In the sequence of poems that forms the spine of this debut collection, Luke Palmer casts 16th Century alchemist Paracelsus as an eccentric single father, giving voice to his Homunculus; a preformationist child and the secret to eternal life. By turns playful and profane, the arcane bleeds into the everyday, untethered from history - a walk in the woods is an encounter with an angry god, a potty training accident becomes a metaphysical exploration. Elsewhere, Palmer addresses masculinities from both sides of the 'father tug', roving between the concrete and ephemeral, asking questions of language, the wants of an aging body, and what it means to live forever.
Four boys grow up together at school, itching to get out of their small town. They play games, scoring points from each other, anything to pass the time. But when Mark starts running errands for his older brother's mysterious associate, he thinks he's found the best game of all.
A white supremacist group and its violent leader targets teenage Josh, who is struggling to cope with his father's recent death at the hands of terrorists. Will he find the strength to resist, or will unlikely accomplice Dana help him plant something good in the space grief has left inside him?
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