Behind Normalcy

Winner of the Harriss Poetry Prize, judged by series editor Kwame Alexander and 2019 final judge Erica Dawson, Behind Normalcy is the first chapbook by Maryland-based poet Burgi Zenhaeusern. According to Teri Ellen Cross Davis, author of Haint and Poetry Coordinator at the Folger Shakespeare Library, “Behind Normalcy is an opportunity to explore the tense and probing questions we hide behind and hide from in polite society. From the juxtaposition of sending a child off to school as a photographer’s death makes front-page news, to the great aunt the poet knows best by her handmade socks, Zenhaeusern has the patience and the eye to peel back the layers of everyday and reveal the small truths lying beneath. In succinct, pure lines, she documents the quiet beauty of this fragmented and complex world.” Poems in Behind Normalcy have appeared previously in Passager, Forage Poetry, American Poetry Journal, Oversound, Gargoyle, and elsewhere. CityLit Press is the publishing imprint of nonprofit literary arts organization CityLit Project (www.citylitproject.org).