Chapbook Reviews: Haunted Fucking by Philip LoPresti and Pan is Dad by Emril Krestle

Haunted Fucking: A Book in Spasms by Philip LoPresti

There is no church here.
That's just the sound madness makes
when it claws its way out of a throat.

Philip LoPresti was yet another writer who I first met in an online workshop. Given the kind of writing he presented in that workshop, which focused far more on imagery and language than narrative, it's no surprise he gravitated towards poetry.

Despite the fact I got the first edition of this chapbook almost 2 years ago, I never sat down and read it cover to cover. Though I had picked it up several times to read one or two poems at a time until recently. Reading it all at once is almost overwhelming. Every poem is a confrontational barrage of grotesque images.

This is the kind of poetry that stimulates every one of the senses. In addition to the sounds of harsh noise and scenes of rot, it evokes the musty smell of sex and the coppery taste of a bloody nose.

None of the poems have titles. They're simple labeled "Spasm One," "Spasm Two," and so forth. The result is that reading it all at once causes the poems to blend together. This isn't a bad thing. The poems stand on their own, but as a conceptual whole the book works on a different level.

The first edition is out of print, but a second edition has since been printed. It replaces the last two poems or "spasms" with new ones, and it's well worth picking up.

LoPresti is also a very talented photographer. Like his poetry, his pieces are brutal and beautiful. You can see some of his work online at his website Suicide in the Birth Canal.

Buy Haunted Fucking: A Book in Spasms by Philip LoPresti here. 

Pan is Dad by Emril Krestle

How does one ask the slight of one's hand and pen, to pen
Something good if only god can know When...?

The first work I read of Emril Krestle's was his collaboration with Paul Bingham, Black House Rocked. His contribution was a moody piece called "Twilights," a Maldoror-esque prose poem about a vampire. I liked that story enough that I picked up this chapbook of his poetry.

Some of the poems here have the same Gothic type writing as "Twilights" such as "At the Seated Lincoln" (quoted above), but the poems have a wide range of moods. Some are surreal vignettes, like "At Random," which is about an ass staring in a movie. Others are more humorous, like the titular poem and "Row Your Boats Gently," which is a sarcastic commentary on the infamous Interior Semiotics performance art piece.

Pan is Dad is an enjoyable collection, and for me lives up to the promise he showed in "Twilights." I would, however, recommend picking up Black House Rocked first. If you enjoy his writing in that, then definitely get Pan is Dad next.

Buy Pan is Dad by Emril Krestle here.