This Big Fake World: A Story in Verse (Pearl Poetry Prize Series)

At the heart of Ada Limon's This Big Fake World is a story that revolves around the book's unlikely Hero, a man in a gray suit; the object of his affection, known only as The Hardware Store Lady; and his friend Lewis, the town drunk, who compulsively writes letters to Ronald Reagan. Limon takes these seemingly ordinary people, all longing for love and connection in a world that seems completely indifferent to them, and through her extraordinary wit and imagination, transforms them into the compelling sort of characters rarely found in contemporary poetry. Winner of the 2005 Pearl Poetry Prize, this is Limon's second book of poetry.