Earthquake Came to Harlem

the long version

Nuanced yet aggressive, *Earthquake Came to Harlem* is a tour-de-force of NYC poetry. From Harlem to Bensonhurst, from a budget hairdresser to the junkie under the corner scaffold, Sheeler (a lifelong New Yorker) allows the people and places she knows so well to engage with the larger universe. In this collection, God is both a prostitute and a suicide bomber; Star Trek a lifeline to sanity amidst the chaos of family dysfunction; police are variously family, foe and rescuers. Using language as musical as it is precise, Sheeler’s poems animate an unexpected world—one you might not want to step into, but can’t tear your eyes away from once you do.