Poetry. African & African American Studies. Humor and terror bind themselves to one another in this wonderfully odd debut by Dustin Pearson. As much as these poems are anxious and anguished--'Make them describe it end to end'--they are also tender and redemptive--'I've been waiting for you / and this closeness we wouldn't abuse.' But MILLENNIAL ROOST is never apologetic in its truth-telling or its disappointment at a world that goes on once such awful truths are told. How do we live through (and live on!) after violation? Pearson's surrealist vision is itself a metaphor for the lie that physical resilience saves us from mental anguish. This is a beautifully necessary book.--Jericho Brown