Murderer

MURDERER is a raw and uncompromising poetry collection by Andy Smart that interrogates the "murder of reality" through the lens of personal and American trauma. Set against backdrops ranging from the rain-slicked streets of Portland, Oregon, to the cold maze of Eugene, Smart's verses navigate the jagged edges of memory, labor, and loss.At the heart of the collection is a haunting exploration of family legacy, specifically the shadow cast by a father's suicide and the complex, resilient survival of a mother. Smart moves fluidly between the visceral and the sacred, reimagining Jesus as a tired, long-haired hippie on a beach and Walter Payton as a weary icon for the white gaze.Through "insurrectionist syntax" and "incandescent shadows," these poems confront the "dirty business" of being alive. From the systemic "debasement" of the working class to the quiet terror of post-coital reflection, MURDERER is a symphony of "war cries, dirges, and familiar hymns" for the "sad, condemned souls" looking for music in the dark.