The Fry

Jacqueline Waters's fourth collection confronts the ways we push each other around, hoping for a little win, settling for the slow diminishment of our souls. The book's preoccupations include the vagaries of authority, the tendency to sweep everything under the rug then wonder why the rug's not flat, intergenerational chaos, sudden medical detour, and an ill-advised passion for healing. The tone is sinister, yet amusing, offering one more handhold as we near the end of our ropes: "We can't have knowing looks / (we're both as good as dead) / so we have these knowing lines, typing till the clock says stop."