I Should Never Have Fired the Sentinel is populated by a phony plastic surgeon, a gang of suicidal ducks, a seven-armed boater, a hostile pair of jeans, skydiving incisors, and a bizarre assortment of creatures eagerly transcending the often-menacing banality of the North American present.

I Should Never Have Fired the Sentinel is Jennifer LoveGrove’s second book of poetry. This collection reflects and examines the culture of panic that infuses contemporary life, while relentlessly employing strange and startling imagery. Her unique poems are preoccupied with moments when the expected goes amiss, when your reality suddenly shifts into an unfamiliar realm — physically, mentally, emotionally, or otherwise. These poems seem friendly — frolicking at your heels like lost pets — but ultimately, they are not to be trusted. Look closely, you’ll see them foaming at the mouth …