A series of 20 short poems, mostly alternating very short with longer lines, using words and word fragments from a variety of languages (I've identified English, French, German, Italian, Latin, and Greek). Often the result is a kind of multi-linguistic haiku, but breaking down the conventional patterns of haiku-thought or perception as well as successfully challenging the notion that a single language (at a time) is necessary for coherent poetic discourse: "Luce in arte/ Err/ We affects/ Will pais paizon young idiot." (from "igne 18") This work clearly demonstrates that poetry need not be confined to a particular cultural or literary context to be successful, and that poetic thought occurs in a consciousness of language as a generic category and not simply as a particular culturally-bound construct.--John M. Bennett
Poetry of extreme invention, the song of a mind able to hear music from many spheres simultaneously. Language here serves that open interior melody--mind occupied with the frontiers of inspired intelligence. Bits of words, sentences, languages, physical apparitions intermingle in a mathematics that delivers a new series of interpretations with each pass. This is a poetry of ultimate mystery, an honest confrontation of reality without the safety of the filters we usually project. Its size is perfect for slipping in your pocket so you can dip into it for a taste of infinity--to remind you that the world we live in is by consensus--to remind us of the cracks in its construction.--Jake Berry
This review originally appeared in TapRoot Reviews #4,
Contact the editor, luigi-bob drake, at Burning Press
Copyright Burning Press 1994, 1995.