The poems in this collection capture moments of glory and tragedy in ordinary places: a Grants Department Store, a Vegas motel, and cities such as Yonkers and Bridgeport, where both conmen and the common man (or woman) mingle with superheroes, artists, musicians, and the gods of Greek mythology. The speaker in one poem recalls when he was "a boy of steel" who waited "for catastrophe // as if it were a bus," and who "undid the past by running away from it // at unimaginable speeds." In turns surprising, humorous, and tender, every poem in this collection stands as evidence of Surowiecki's warm heart and a sharp intellect.