Earnest, Earnest?

Winner, 2019 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize | Finalist, 2021 Eric Hoffer Award | Silver Medal, 2020 Florida Book Award In Earnest, Earnest? , the speaker, Eleanor, writes postcards to her on-again-off-again lover, Earnest. The fact that her lover’s name is Earnest and that their relationship is fraught, raises questions of sincerity and irony, and whether both can be present at the same time. While Earnest can be read literally as Eleanor’s lover, he is best understood as another side of the