The philosopher Catherine Malabou once asked: “What should we do so that consciousness of the brain does not purely and simply coincide with the spirit of capitalism?” There Must Be A Reason People Come Here by Brian Foley is a collection of poems that attempts to answer this question by broadcasting the indirect effects of the lived condition of a subject squeezed under the structures of late capitalism. 

Lines like, “Hope is a chemical, not a dream ignited in the eye / that can be heard sober.” And “There is no sun here, / just habits of light” work through the contradictions of what it means to be negatively capable. It is a collection of poems that refuses to conform to the norms of what poetry is and how it must say things.

"There Must Be A Reason People Come Here is the second full-length collection of poems by Denver-based poet and musician Brian Foley. In this new book Foley explores the intersection of consciousness and the modern condition by broadcasting the indirect effects of a life lived under the oppressive structures of late capitalism. Working through the contradictions of what it means to exist in the precarity of our growing industrial and psychological ruin Foley writes, 'Hope is a chemical, not a dream ignited in the eye / that can be heard sober.' It is a collection of poems that refuses to conform to the norms of what poetry is and how it must say things"--Back cover.