Bundles of Letters Including A, V, and Epsilon

by Arlene Ang, Pamela Hill (Illustrator), Valerie Fox

A collection of magical, surrealist experiments, where the suspension of language is the suspension of disbelief, and where multiple types of freedom can come into play. The poems take risks: with form, with language, and with ideas, which find themselves co-opted and then possibly inverted.

Genres: Poetry

91 pages, Paperback

First published September 1, 2008

About the author

Arlene Ang's fourth full-length collection, "Banned for Life," was published by Misty Publications in 2014. She received the 2006 Frogmore Poetry Prize and the 2008 Juked Poetry Prize. Her poetry has been published in Ambit, Diagram, Painted Bride Quarterly, Poetry Ireland, Rattle, Salt Hill Journal, and Stand Magazine. She lives in Spinea, Italy.

Reviews

[Paul Siegell · Rating 5 out of 5]

loved the surreal. laughed many times on many pages. a great book for bustin' outta writer's block. some favorite lines: "The lettuce in my ham sandwich tasted of a pipe organ's hundred years" (14) and "I tried to catch jellyfish with bottled messages" (16).

[Jayne · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a stunning collection of surreal poetry! Highly recommended.

[Care]

for Poetry Challenge

[Amy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Surrealism at its finest. I highly recommend.

[Diane Hernandez · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hmmm, I think I just don't understand surrealist poetry, as this book declares it is on its back cover. These poems seem more like I'm overhearing someone's random thoughts. I think they would be better categorized as surrealist flash fiction. Here is a quote from the book "the moon sentenced an x-ray of my areola (right). Someone praised my synonyms for Rumpelstiltskin taped under a leather sole." I did like some of stream-of-consciousness thoughts from Valerie Fox and I enjoyed Arlene Ang's comment "for years I repeated the word impetus underbreath taking its three vowels--tediously--for love." It is rather fun to repeat impetus as it sort of rolls around your mouth like the word comparable. Unfortunately, I am just not fashionable enough to give this book a rating higher than a 2. However, if you are more of a risk taker and you like the two quotes I provided, this book might be for you.

I received this book in a Goodreads giveaway but that has not impacted my review.