Let Our Bod­ies Change the Sub­ject is a poet­ry col­lec­tion that dives head­long into the ter­ri­fy­ing, won­drous, sleep-deprived exis­tence of being a par­ent in twen­ty-first-cen­tu­ry Amer­i­ca. In clear, dynam­ic vers­es that dis­arm then strike, Jared Harél inves­ti­gates our days through the key­hole of domes­tic­i­ty, through per­son­al lyrics and cul­tur­al reck­on­ings. Whether tak­ing a fam­i­ly trip to Coney Island or sim­ply show­ing his son snowflakes on Inau­gu­ra­tion morn­ing, Harél guides us toward moments of inti­ma­cy and under­stand­ing, humor and grief.

“I will try,” he admits, ​“to be bet­ter than myself, which is all/I’ve ever want­ed and every­thing I need.” Win­ner of the Raz/​Shumaker Prairie Schooner Book Prize in Poet­ry, Let Our Bod­ies Change the Sub­ject is a sec­u­lar prayer. Hop­ing against hope, Harél works to rec­on­cile feel­ings of luck and loss, of liv­ing for joy while fear­ing the worst.