AMERICAN INCIDENT
Brian Henry, . . Salt, $13.95 (172pp) ISBN 978-1-876857-52-3
This capacious third volume from a much-remarked young poet-critic offers versatility, up-to-the-minute references, and edgy verbal fireworks framed by a remarkable range of forms. Henry begins with a series of almost flirtatiously indirect short poems, declaring in "Marginalia" "I promise to get concrete real quick." Soon enough come the first of several dozen distantly related prose poems, all entitled "Patricide in C Minor," and tantalizingly like fragments of a (racy, fast-moving, somewhat confusing) novel. Other offerings include a several-page script for solo theatrical performance; monostichs and distichs; a pantoun composed entirely of quotations from George W. Bush ("Beating Around the Bush"); and the quiet, brusque short poems of the title sequence. Most of the book, however, comprises aggressively digressive personal lyric, stylistically reminiscent of Susan Wheeler, Dean Young, or the Australian poet John Tranter. Frequent subjects include sex and male lust; youth and travel; writing and writing programs. Henry (
Reviewed on: 12/23/2002
Genre: Nonfiction