The Man Grave

The Man Grave portrays the corrosiveness, violence, and loneliness of all-too-familiar strains of American masculinity. In perceptive and moving poems, Christopher Salerno explores patriarchy, boyhood, lust, misogyny and homophobia, infertility, and family in an effort to diagnose-and remedy-inherited patterns of manliness. "Have I / made it any further than my father / in his laughter, before his slaughter?" Salerno writes. His new collection is a moving and generous answer.