The Wise and Foolish Builders
Alexandra Teague

This chilling collection by the author of Mortal Geography (winner of the California Book Award in poetry) is a verse exploration of American progress and its consequences, featuring rifle heiress Sarah Winchester and her unsettling Mystery House, with cameos by Harry Houdini, Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane, Buffalo Bill and many other fascinating figures.

“Teague’s powerful, relevant poems. . .give us a glimpse of our past, and mirror our present.”
— ALA Booklist

“What a fascinating book—a brilliantly deft weave of curious history, and haunting air, ‘thickened with a churn of voices.’ What vivid poems could feel more prescient in our troubles times?”
—Naomi Shihab Nye

“In poems of startling formal range and remarkable intimacy, Alexandra Teague creates a world as full of surprises as the Winchester Mystery House it chronicles.... This book challenges us to consider the house we’ve built together and how we’ll ever find our way outside of it again.”
—Gabrielle Calvocoressi

“Her poems are ingenious documentaries that explore American westward expansion and the gun that helped it happen.”
—Jill McDonough

Alexandra Teague teaches in the creative writing program at the University of Idaho. 

Paperback / $15.95 (Can $18.95) / ISBN 978-0-89255-460-7 / 96 pages / Poetry

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