{"product_id":"rational-anthem-paperback","title":"Rational Anthem - Paperback","description":"\u003cp\u003eby \u003cb\u003eCasey Thayer\u003c\/b\u003e (Author)\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFinalist, 2022 Miller Williams Poetry Prize\u003c\/b\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn a voice at times electrified by caustic cynicism, at other times stripped bare by grief, Casey Thayer's \u003ci\u003eRational Anthem\u003c\/i\u003e offers wry tribute to \"the greatest country God could craft with the mules he had \/ on hand.\" In seeking to tell the story of the ragged world around him, Thayer examines the links among flag-waving populism, religious fervor, and toxic masculinity. Here male intimacy--among childhood friends, between father and son, and in the tenuous bonds between young adults--generally finds acceptance only when expressed through a shared passion for guns and hunting: \"I helped my father clean his hands with field grass, \/ convinced we had shared a moment \/ in rolling the internal organs out of the abdomen.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eIn \"How-To,\" the book's closer--a mash-up of instructions from active-shooter trainings attended by the poet--Thayer grasps at strategies for surviving a world where we have come to see school shootings as routine: \"Grab a textbook, they instructed my child, and hug it to your chest over your heart.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFormally deft and lyrically dense, \u003ci\u003eRational Anthem\u003c\/i\u003e asks why we find it so hard to change the stories we keep repeating.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003ch3\u003eAuthor Biography\u003c\/h3\u003e\u003cp\u003eCasey Thayer is the author of \u003ci\u003eSelf-Portrait with Spurs and Sulfur\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eLove for the Gun\u003c\/i\u003e. His work has appeared in \u003ci\u003eAGNI\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eAmerican Poetry Review\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003ePoetry\u003c\/i\u003e, and elsewhere. He lives in Chicago.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eNumber of Pages:\u003c\/strong\u003e 94\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003eDimensions:\u003c\/strong\u003e 0.3 x 8.4 x 5.4 IN\u003c\/div\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\n\u003cstrong\u003ePublication Date:\u003c\/strong\u003e March 01, 2022\u003c\/div\u003e","brand":"Books by splitShops","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":42158229749895,"sku":"9781682262047","price":21.55,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0601\/2623\/2711\/files\/a49541c337a55ea1a3ce08ed07dea3c5.webp?v=1733257147","url":"https:\/\/booksby.splitshops.com\/products\/rational-anthem-paperback","provider":"Books by splitShops","version":"1.0","type":"link"}