, Greg Alan Brownderville’s third collection of poetry, employs inventive phrasing and vivid imagery to construct a particular life marked by religion, confused by desire, dulled by alcohol, and darkened by death. But Brownderville also skillfully uses humor to soften the disquieting images that haunt these stanzas. Strange stories wind through these poems: Two method actors live as lovers in a wartorn city and take the stage in an empty playhouse. A poet confesses to killing thousands of Arkansas blackbirds via folk magic. A preteen boy, deeply involved in an underground religion, is pressured into marrying a dangerous demon. Brownderville’s poems examine a soulscape wrecked almost beyond recognition and dig deeply through the ruins.