Pax Atomica

<p>America's epic is the odyssey of appetite Campbell McGrath declares and these poems track those defining hungers across a social landscape by turns grave risible amazing banal cataloging the vortex of images in a ruined theater the culture comes to resemble from Rocky and Bullwinkle to Blue Angels rampant on a field of static / anthem and flag descending to darkness. In terza rima meditations rock-and-roll elegies and abecedarian lyrics <em>Pax Atomica</em> documents the tangled romance between self and society (in which / the melody's ampersand ensnares us) in ways both new and familiar to readers of McGrath's five previous volumes. A continuation as well as a departure for one of America's most highly honored poets this is poetry of formal eloquence and rhetorical power of vision and engagement. <em>Pax Atomica</em>descends into the maelstrom of American culture and emerges singing.</p>