Advance Praise for
Alec Hershman's FOR A SECOND, IN THE DARK

“For a second, in the dark, the flip-side
of paranoia is wonder: enrapturing details
Hershman’s mind lights upon and transforms.
His vigilant imagination shows us the town as
it is, as we know it is, when we really stop to
think about it. A bowling ball consumes the
cops, milk flows through the forest or a bird’s
throat, a fire-hydrant pre-ejaculates, the grocer
uploads the produce with feeling. All of us in
this elevator know it, this “elevated vision,” and
Hershman provides it with excellent music.”
—Philip Matthews, author of Witch 

“The rhyming darknesses of strangers, curtain-
twitching psychedelia. Synesthesia working like
echoes, images that catch snatches of reality
in a way that feels like discovering a painting
in a room you’ve just walked into is actually a
broken mirror. Oddity and precision— you
haven’t seen the world like this, but you have,
deep down. Deja vu. Here’s a little hum to hold
in your hand, a gentle practical joke, and then
a lyric moment like a landslide cutting under
your feet. The forces of history are a wolf sitting
in your kitchen with you, and it’s likely you’ll
be devoured. You should take this book with
you so that you have something to read while
it happens. Hershman is Laura Jensen’s heir in
originality, absurd humor, and beauty, and we
are lucky to have him.”
—Annah Browning, professor of English at
Blackburn College; author of Witch Doctrine

ALEC HERSHMAN is the author of two previous volumes of poetry: Permanent and Wonderful Storage (Seven Kitchens, 2019) and The Egg Goes Under (Seven Kitchens, 2017). He is a grassroots labor organizer and currently serves as the Chair of Education for the Ypsilanti Industrial Workers of the World. He lives with his husband and dogs in Michigan.