James Wright and Joshua Harmon

The poem "In Response to a Rumor That the Oldest Whorehouse in Wheeling, West Virginia Has Been Condemned", James Wright provides a dark and cynical take on his town Wheeling. At first, his poem is a response to the brothel being condemned. He makes liberal use of the "-one" and "-ong" sounds in the first stanza, making his mournful mood more apparent. Throughout the poem, Wright uses very short sentences and lines, making the imagery in the poem seem sparse. The use of "poured" in the "women poured down the long street in the river" depicts the women being so great in number that they are not just going down to the river, but are rushing in there like incoming water. The poem then takes a much darker turn when Wright reveals that the women are not seen after they make their way to the river; instead they "drown". He states that they are not seen even close to "near dawn", so where could they be? Wright then reveals that he believes that the river in Wheeling only has two shore, one to Hell and one in Bridgeport, Ohio. He then confirms the hints of suicide provided earlier by concluding, "And nobody would commit suicide/only   

To find beyond death/Bridgeport, Ohio."

In "The absent tenant's electricity...", Joshua Harmon also provides a cynical take on an unnamed town. This poem moves from a smaller scale, the absent tenant's apartment, to the rest of the town. This poem works primarily as its, starting with the rotting turkey, going on to the rest of the decrepit apartment to deer having to forage in garbage. The coatimundi reference is unusual since that animal can kept as an exotic pet. Perhaps Harmon is attempting to illustrate the depravity of this town that an animal that should be out in the wild is ostensibly being kept by a negligent breeder. The mayor also promotes this image of this town being corrupt since he has nothing but scorn for his townspeople, even the schoolchildren. Harmon provides a succinct summary of the poem within the poem itself, "a memoir of disintegration. The town's water is apparently unsafe as well, as people only trust the water given out at church. Harmon thens goes onto describe people who are keeping shelter from the rain in their pickup trucks even though they could rent a garage, a poignant use of irony. Finally, the poem ends with a starling, a small and innocent looking bird, watching this disordered town from afar.