Special Powers and Abilities

"McDaniel's language trains every particle of your attention on the surface and what stirs beneath."—C.D. Wright Inspired by the comic series The Legion of Super-Heroes, Raymond McDaniel's poems morph superheroes into religious and mythological narratives. Using a range of traditional forms—versets, kennings, and sonnets—his poems consider the history of how we look at the future and take on an almost Talmudic complexity. Raymond McDaniel is the author of Saltwater Empire and Murder (a violet), a National Poetry Series selection. Born in Florida, McDaniel now lives in Ann Arbor, Michigan, teaches at the University of Michigan, and writes for The Constant Critic.