Rangefinder is set in a discount megastore. As the poet walks the aisles, he ponders the moral ruin evident in the procession of products: the narcissistic cult of movie stars, the insidious ubiquity of pop music, the pernicious abdication by parents and teachers of their responsibilities to children, and the sick worship of wealth. Powderhorn recounts the trials of the poet as a picaresque young man discovering and holding fast to his vocation in spite of canting counselors and worldly temptations. Telescoping to the present, the mature poet observes himself walking the city streets, appraising vignettes that conjure the honeyed snares, false steps, and close calls of his own youth.