Modern love, Ancient War

Whitney Hanson is a TikTok phenom, the rear cover of Home boldly declares; if you get to be one, you might as well blast it out with cornets and trumpets.¹ She clings to the lower case, that humble posture full of arch pretension—the copyright page is the only place inside where the restless eye can rest on capital letters. Hanson’s poems are fleeting as summer breezes, wailing about disappointed love with none of the dispatch or subterranean energy of haiku.