The Second Longest Day of the Year tackles subjects such as suicide, mental health, body image, loss and grieving, politics, the pandemic, the environment—and yet manages to maintain a sense of humor throughout. "I see the book as a reflection of the inner vs. outer selves we experience day by day, hour by hour," Prokott says. "Each of us goes from trying to understand, existentially, who we are, what our place is, what grief does to us—while at the same time trying to understand the same things from a political perspective. The collection moves between how our personal experience defines us as much as how political culture defines us."

Jean Prokott is the author of the chapbook The Birthday Effect. She is a recipient of the AWP Intro Journals Award, League of Minnesota Poets Grand Prize, and two National Endowment for the Humanities scholarships. Her poetry and creative nonfiction have been published in Arts & Letters, Rattle, RHINO, and Laurel Review, among other journals. She is a graduate of Minnesota State University Mankato's MFA program, holds a Master of Science in Education from Winona State, and lives in Rochester, Minnesota.

"This collection offers a poetic landscape that is easily entered but not lightly forgotten. Prokott's writing is agile. It moves gracefully from a stark wittiness and conversational observations to unforgettable imagery evoking the true palpability of grief."--Sierra DeMulder