Useless Landscape, or a Guide for Boys

*Winner of the 2012 National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry*

I have this rearrangement to make:

symbolic death, my backward glance.

The way the past is a kind of future

leaning against the sporty hood.

--from "Bugcatching at Twilight"

In Useless Landscape, or A Guide for Boys - D. A. Powell's fifth book of poetry - the rollicking line he has made his signature becomes the taut, more discursive means to describing beauty, singing a dirge, directing an ironic smile, or questioning who in any given setting is the instructor and who is the pupil. This is a book that explores the darker side of divisions and developments, which shows how the interstitial spaces of boonies, backstage, bathhouse, or bar are locations of desire. With Powell's witty banter, emotional resolve, and powerful lyricism, this collection demonstrates his exhilarating range.