“Eunoia” by Christian Bök (2001)

“Awkward grammar appals a craftsman.”

Seeking out books with constrained writing seems to be a vaguely recurring theme on my reading list. There’s books that limit what words can begin with, those that entirely remove a certain letter, and one that limits where its sentences can come from. Eunoia is on a whole other level.

Bök has penned here five univocalic poems, each one only able to use one vowel in turn. He believes that this shows each vowel with its own personality, as well as exploring...