2016 selection · Poetry

The Performance of Becoming Human

Surreal, documentary-inflected poems address borders, bureaucracy, labor, violence, and dehumanizing political language.

01

Why it matters

It makes institutional cruelty audible through abrasive and inventive forms.

02

Read this if…

You welcome politically urgent, challenging experimental poetry.

03

Ideas inside

bordersbureaucracylaborviolence

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Primary record

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National Book Award for Poetry — official winner recordOfficial record (opens in a new tab)