Michael Kriesel’s “Aleister Crowley Lipogram”

When I read “Aleister Crowley Lipogram” yesterday in the North American Review, all I could say was “perfect,” and not just because Kriesel’s poem is so playful with erasure, including erasure of the underlying narrative. It is evocative of all the promises that the occult, the mythic, the mystical, the poetic make. It reminds us of why I “stray.” The poem received The 2015 James Hearst Poetry Prize. https://northamericanreview.wordpress.com/james-hearst-poetry-prize/

Lexicon. Max Barry. 2013.

Lexicon is a sci fi novel with a truly interesting plot line and enticing premise for writers, literati, etc, for English prof/poets like me. Think of it, a secret society of poets who have learned to influence—more accurately, learned to manipulate—others through knowledge of some basic personality types and use of special words and word sequences upon them. The characters Will and Emily come off as the usual kind of characters in sci fi, but that’s OK because, as is typical for sci fi, the plot and ideas involved keep one reading. And for me, Barry’s language style is quite fine . . . a fine sci fi thriller.