E-Books →Tap Out Poems

"Kunz arrives with real poetic talent."-The Millions, "Must Read Poetry"
"[A] gritty, insightful debut."-Washington Post
Winner of the 2019 Julia Ward Howe Award for Poetry
Approach these poems as short stories, plainspoken lyric essays, controlled arcs of a bildungsroman, then again as narrative verse. Tap Out, Edgar Kunz's debut collection, reckons with his working‑poor heritage. Within are poignant, troubling portraits of blue‑collar lives, mental health in contemporary America, and what is conveyed and passed on through touch and words―violent, or simplyabsent.
Yet Kunz's verses are unsentimental, visceral, sprawling between oxys and Bitcoin, crossing the country restlessly. They grapple with the shame and guilt of choosing to leave the culture Kunz was born and raised in, the identity crises caused by class mobility. Theypull the reader close, alternating fierce whispers and proud shouts about what working hands are capable of and the different ways a mind and body can leave a life they can no longer endure.This hungry new voice asks: after you makethe choice to leave,what isleft behind, what can you make of it, and at what cost?