BOOK
Rogue Astronaut
Rogue Astronaut is forthcoming from the University of Arkansas Press as part of the Miller Williams Poetry Series, selected by Patricia Smith. Look for it in spring 2026!
At the core of Rogue Astronaut, the debut poetry collection from Mitchell Jacobs, is a father’s abduction by aliens as a teenager. Knowledge of this event spurs speculations about the extraterrestrial as well as the terrestrial question of familial bonds. A brother living with delusions turns, too, toward the sky. All the while, outer space becomes a realm for the poet to conceptualize queer relationships and the limits of cognition. Just as Agent Mulder’s UFO poster in The X-Files claims “I WANT TO BELIEVE,” so Jacobs wants to believe in other life, even in the divine.