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Dec 03, 2013JCLChrisK rated this title 4 out of 5 stars
The concrete aspect is merely a bonus, as the words themselves convey excellent personality and voice. Each poem is a brief vignette from the life of eleven-year-old Robert, a peek inside his head. He's clever, sardonic, and snarky, someone who feels very real and familiar. His poems are expressions of his cleverness, sardonicism, and snarkiness. ----- Like the "TyrannosaurBus Rex," that: "Early in the morning, I spy a group of small human children standing on the corner of Elm and Spring. I slam on my brakes. I open my mouth. "Come in, little children," I say. They don't want to, but they must. Their parents have delivered them to me. Human sacrifices. . . . I go to the school parking lot. I open my mouth and barf out my noisy, jumping, giggling, laughing, arguing breakfast. . . . " ----- Or "The Thank-You Letter (with Footnotes)" that thanks his aunt for the "amazing gifts" in the letter, then asks "Do you have the slightest clue what an 11-year-old boy likes?" in one of the 19 footnotes. ----- The concrete form expresses the content with the same cleverness, dancing across the page in various ways depending on what is being represented. It's hard (in a good way) to even think of these as poems, as they come across more as graphic representations of thoughts. ----- It's a quick read that I enjoyed greatly, and I'm already thinking of ways to share it with others.