To be honest here, this book is as brilliant as it is bizarre. The author/narrator's voice is compelling, and the phrasing is profound and simplistic at once. It is sort of an anomaly, to be frank. I have read it multiple times and have concluded that it is a masterpiece, if one of the strangest masterpieces that I have ever read.

The poems are about Moby Dick. Or rather, they use Moby Dick to comment on writing and language and, in a way, the whole idea of "fandom".

I would definitely suggest giving it a read if you happen to like both modern poetry and Melville's Moby Dick... or if you really love modern poetry.

I don't even know where to begin! Every poem in the collection has brilliant moments. I suppose that I might as well just open the book to a random page and share a snippet or two. The creative use of spacing and line breaks makes it a bit almost impossible to duplicate in a product review format, but I'll try to find some simple ones. Here we go:



A map to After. Inside the ocean-current
A god's finger (to guide my coffin)
                        hides: after here,

You'll be          narrowed but alive.


         ~Excerpt from "Reading Lessons, Writing Lessons; Or, What a Coffin Means (Queequeg, Pre- and Post- Deathbed)"



None but a prophet can speak
Behind the hieroglyph
                                       -ic skull
Of the whale's electric mind


         ~Excerpt from "The Head of the Whale (An Epistemology, a Psychology, an Economy, a Flame, Tooth, Bone, a Theology of the Blind, a Murder, a Deaf Ear)"


I am aware that these titles sound pretentious, but they are so tongue-in-cheek that I actually quite love them. If any of the descriptions of snippets sound interesting in any way, I suggest checking it out. Prepare for a strange but intriguing ride.

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Created Jan 28, 2016 at 11:53pm • Submit your own review...