GenPop Magazine‘s second featured writer is Carol Guess, whose new work has the unmistakable air of Washington State driftwood and houses made of tires.

In “Grayland,” “Flora,” “Neither Ghost Nor Visitor,” and “My Imaginary Bianca”—four prose poems from a project called Rogue Agent Burlesque—we find birds with three wings, empty trousers, and the dead stalking us as “the war goes on, and the new drugs, each creamier than the last.”

Guess is the author of two poetry collections, Tinderbox Lawn and Femme’s Dictionary; two novels, Switch and Seeing Dell; and a memoir, Gaslight. Forthcoming books include a poetry collection, Love Is A Map I Must Not Set On Fire, and a novel, Homeschooling. She is Associate Professor of English at Western Washington University, where she teaches Creative Writing and Queer Theory.