(This Is Not A) Mixtape for the End of the World

Daniel M. Shapiro's (This Is Not A) Mixtape for the End of the World is a collection of prose poems inspired by the heyday of MTV pop music videos. The poems distill the juxtaposition of sunny materialism and Cold War trepidation that define so many music videos of the 1980s. Shapiro chips away at nostalgia while clinging to what makes his source material so catchy. A series of artworks by Stephen Tornero accompanies the poems. Much like the period's music, the bold excess, bright colors, and festive abstractions stand in contrast to the decade's underbelly.