The poems in Derek Annis’s debut collection, Neighborhood of Gray Houses, wander through a landscape darkened by childhood abandonment and loss, before coming to rest in a home illuminated by new life and cautious optimism. The speaker comes to consciousness at a time when parental contracts have been breached and in a world falling apart, and as it falls apart, the poems become increasingly surreal, increasingly sure of the world’s uncertainty. Ultimately, the birth of the speaker’s daughters provides direction, a way out of the neighborhood of gray houses, to a place with more solid footing.