Overview

From the perspective of a teacher in a youth detention center, these hard-hitting poems have a unique blend of dark humor and realism. In a composition of both compassion for America's unheard voices and contempt for the systems' unjustness, American Treasure chronicles McDonough's personal place within the nation. She considers her work with incarcerated students, her privilege, her womanhood, and the connection she shares with others. Through this exploration, McDonough writes with care about the possibility of a people in a country built on cruelty. Poems prod, ache, question, and laugh, as they tap into the complexity of a modern nation full of contempt for the vile systems woven into the American fabric, while also celebrating those who live in spite of them.

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9781948579292

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a What does it mean to be free, especially when onea (TM)s personal freedoms have come at anothera (TM)s expense? Jill McDonougha (TM)s newest book takes on this question and others, examining what fantasies we engage when we declare ourselves free from pain, free from want, free from prison, free from fear, or free from history, when none of us are ever free from such things. But ita (TM)s this shared fantasies of self-governance, McDonougha (TM)s biting poems suggest, that are too precious for us to abandon, becoming the real a oeAmerican Treasurea we each hoard for ourselves. In poems both hilarious and deeply personal, McDonough examines how our refusal to be held accountable for anything finally shackles us to a vision of America that is anything but free. The funniest jokes are, in reality, deadly serious; American Treasure is a wildly funny book.a a Paisley Rekdal

What does it mean to be free, especially when one's personal freedoms have come at another's expense? Jill McDonough's newest book takes on this question and others, examining what fantasies we engage when we declare ourselves free from pain, free from want, free from prison, free from fear, or free from history, when none of us are ever free from such things. But it's this shared fantasies of self-governance, McDonough's biting poems suggest, that are too precious for us to abandon, becoming the real 'American Treasure' we each hoard for ourselves. In poems both hilarious and deeply personal, McDonough examines how our refusal to be held accountable for anything finally shackles us to a vision of America that is anything but free. The funniest jokes are, in reality, deadly serious; American Treasure is a wildly funny book. --Paisley Rekdal What I love about Jill McDonough's poems are the way that they capture the complexity and expansiveness of what it means to be human--how our time on this earth is beautiful and frustrating and often full of contradictions. Reading American Treasure feels like getting a beer with an old friend who is equal parts earnest and hilarious, someone who is full of empathy but who also calls it like they see it. American Treasure reminds me why McDonough is one of my favorite poets. --Clint Smith

Author Information

Jill McDonough is the author of Habeas Corpus (Salt, 2008), Oh, James! (Seven Kitchens, 2012), Where You Live (Salt, 2012), Reaper (Alice James Books, 2017), and Here All Night (Alice James Books, 2019). The recipient of three Pushcart prizes and fellowships from the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Fine Arts Work Center, the New York Public Library, the Library of Congress, and Stanford's Stegner program, she taught incarcerated college students through Boston University's Prison Education Program for thirteen years. Her work has appeared in Poetry, Slate, The Nation, The Threepenny Review, and Best American Poetry. She teaches in the MFA program at UMass-Boston.

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