The End of the Alphabet

With a new introduction by Calvin Bedient

Claudia Rankine’s second poetry collection, The End of the Alphabet , is an inquiry into despair and recovery, selfhood and alienation. Centered on a heroine named Jane, these poems—obsessive, intrepid, erotic—speak in the aftermath of a life-altering tragedy, attempting to make peace with loss and find redemption through mourning. Rankine writes with unflinching attention to exterior detail and emotional nuance, as well as with l…