Backsass: Poems
Opening and closing with his fabulously witty "answering machine poems," Chappell sets the sarcastic tone forBacksass, an aptly titled collection, and comes out swinging. Prodding us with verbal jabs, thumping our heads with astute social and political commentary, and leveling us with perfect puns, Chappell is in his element here, able to cover the gamut from politics to technology to the state of our youth. It is refreshing to depart from the often "movement" driven or overly therapeutic or utterly navel-gazing styles of poetry that pervade the pages of pretentious literary magazines and popular publishers' catalogs. Chappell is almost uniquely funny (something not seen often in poetry), which does not mean inane or superficial. He is a trickster bard, the one who cleverly makes us look at ourselves and laugh--something we could use more of these days.Janet St. JohnCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.