Brutal Imagination- Cornelius Eady

The first cycle of this incredibly powerful book of poetry is written from the perspective of the supposed black hijacker Susan Smith invented to cover up for her killing of her children, and while the conceit seems impossible to pull off, Eady does it. Though it has a particular resonance now, after Trayvon Martin, Eady is speaking to something rooted deep, deep down in America, that existed long before Smith and Martin and will continue its cancerous growth long after. The second cycle was less successful for me, but that may speak more the sway of Brutal Imagination than to any inherent lack in itself.