This collection of Speer's prose-poems is loaded with allusions to famous people (Ulysses S. Grant, Flannery O'Conner, Zero Mostel, Mahler, Picasso, Apollinaire, Hitler...). I'm not sure I like being taken on a trip around some historically-induced Disneyland, but overall it works, because the author has created an aura of significance. There is pain: "...the grief of knowing he's sold me so cheaply is immense." There is paradox: "It was a laugh a minute/ it was bad." There is promise in these twenty poems, as Laurel Speer travels, explores historical incidents, with a clear voice, from within.--R.R. Lee Etzwiler
This review originally appeared in TapRoot Reviews #3,
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