Ben Hersey’s new chapbook from Southampton, MA’s Chuckwagon takes the form of a paranoid rant that is both comic and compelling in its mix of hyperbole and urgent terror.  For a delusional stream-of-consciousness, Hersey’s This Is What We’re Up Against feels particularly timely.

Deb, erase.
Number 1, listen.
I know I was seen wearin’ a yamaka and carryin’ the Star of David in

Downtown Boston. I deliberately inserted myself next to some of
the people who were not in the graduating class.

Get your heads out of your asses, you know this.
This is not –
you know? Oh and by the way, Deb?
This is not about love anymore. This is not about love.
Love is about being smart enough to know what somebody needs
especially when they’re unable, or unwillin’ to see it for themselves –
this is not, ah –
I’m wrapped in a flag.

My home situation at my sister’s house is gettin’ very tenuous.