Thoughts and Prayers

Alissa Quart is the executive director of the Economic Hardship Reporting Project. She is the author of the poetry collection Monetized and four non-fiction books: Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America, Republic of Outsiders, Hothouse Kids, and Branded: The Buying and Selling of Teenagers. Her poems have appeared in Granta, the London Review of Books, and The Nation, among many other publications. She writes The Guardian’s “Outclassed” column and contributes to a range of publications including The New York Times and The New York Review of Books.

“The poet laureate of the Precariat”—Barbara Ehrenreich“Alissa Quart’s poems are nimble and seething, capturing our baroquely scurrilous world. She writes across the holes of what’s been lost, hopeless and strangely optimistic at once.”—Eileen Myles“Quart’s poems have impeccable technique and pleasure-giving verve. A book of grit, danger, and paradoxical elegance.”—Wayne Koestenbaum“Thoughts and Prayers is a beautiful, necessary book.”—Karen E. Bender“With hilarious wit and trenchant lyricism, Quart plumbs everyday experiences and late capitalism.”—Celina SuPRAISE FOR QUART'S POETRY:“Dense, aphoristic, playful...”—The New Yorker“A keen observer of our culture and a believer in the power of poetry to cut to the heart of issues around us: money, class, gender and the environment.”—NPR“Quart turns the insecure conditions that shape our lives today into beautiful jagged verse: the poetry of careers replaced by gigs, of workplaces transformed into WeWork, of a country with no promise, ever, of simple safety.”—Barbara Ehrenreich“Every movement, from splicing, to condensation to litany, has an unprecedented intensity, informative politics, surprise and audacious flair.”—Wayne Koestenbaum“[Quart] has perfect pitch.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer“[Her poems] reveal her keen sociological eye and serve as remarkably apt cultural critiques.”—Publishers Weekly“Quart’s laser-sharp phrases...have a way of sticking around in your head long after you turn the final page.”—Alternet“The irony of our predicament . . . is delightfully disclosed not only in the speaker’s waggish yet tempered tone, but also in the sheer refinement of [her] free verse.”—The Boston Review

• I.SakhalinIn BallardThoughts and PrayersLate CapitalismVenturaClinic ( Jody Rogac, untitled photo of Southern clinic)II.Apocalypse AnywayPassPre-NatalCoterieAgainst Amnesia (Peter Hujar, “Christopher Street Pier #2 (Crossed Legs)”)OutrageousMs. ThingsFeverAlphabetical AmericaMammoIII.MRIThe Harasser’s ApologyEnclaveWedding Poem23andMeCancel ThisAlma MaterThe CloudSummer HavenNotesAcknowledgmentsBio