CAMPAIGN

On February 1, 2016, the date of the Iowa Caucus, David Breskin began a project that would carry him through the American presidential election. An ex- journalist, Breskin set out to "cover" this most strange and historic election, under the pressure of a reporter's daily deadline, by writing one poem a day. He created a deliberately awkward, rollickingly restrictive form--seven beats per line, eleven lines per poem--and, noting our preference for the convenience of sound- bite news and junk-food polls over more nutritious fare, called them "7-Elevens."

The result is Campaign, a fierce, prescient, oddly moving and scathingly funny book. No one is spared (not Ted, not Marco, not Carly; not Hillary nor Bernie nor The Donald; not the Pope nor Scalia nor even Jeb!) as Breskin shines a searching light on the hubris and folly of our would-be leaders. Yet he also captures what is fine about America and Americans, even under siege. "Smashed glass of freedom, a toast / for this sad ballad country / that orphans its immigrants."

Campaign is a record of the election unfolding in real time: its distractions and psychodramas laid bare; its bit-part players of single news cycles recycled; the silliness of its silly season skewered. All the while, the drumbeat of essential issues sounds throughout these seventy-seven beat poems, reminding us what was--and remains--at stake.

David Breskin first made his name as a journalist, writing for magazines such as GQ, LIFE, and Rolling Stone, where he was a contributing editor. After publishing a novel, The Real Life Diary of a Boomtown Girl, Breskin turned to poetry. His first book of poetry, Fresh Kills, was published in 1997, and his second, Escape Velocity, in 2004. Supermodel (2007) was a one-sentence epic poem, or novel-in- verse. DIRTY BABY (2010) married his sixty-six ghazals to art by Ed Ruscha and music by Nels Cline. Most of his work is at davidbreskin.com