Illustrating the Machine That Makes the World: From J. G. Heck's 1851 Pictorial Archive of Nature and Science (The VQR Poetry Series) Review

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(More customer reviews)Joshua Poteat's book of poetry, "Illustrating the Machine That Makes the World [from J.G. Heck's 1851 Pictorial Archive of Nature and Science]," is an incredible read. The book is divided into three main sections: Mr. Poteat's original poems, and two Appendices. Appendix Two is comprised of J.G. Heck's drawings, and all of Mr. Poteat's poems from the first section are in reference to these drawings. As the reader devours the poetry in the first section, he/she is able to look back to Appendix Two to see the drawings which inspired Mr. Poteat's poems. After reading the first section of poems, the reader comes upon Appendix One, in which Mr. Poteat turned his previous poems into smaller and sparer new poems, even leaving the words in the exact location they were in the original poem, as if Mr. Poteat, too, were drawing a plate, the new slightly different heart of his full poem, which was in turn the new slightly different heart of Heck's drawings. Really incredible.
I really enjoyed Mr. Poteat's voice as a writer. His poems confessed things, and yet he rarely had to use the word "I"...most often he used "we," which also gives the reader a feeling of participation in the things that he sees and says. I really enjoyed that aspect, as well as the language in his poetry. It is stunning. Every word so perfect it almost seemed he had invented them. This, of course, led to some startling imagery and a real sense of--this life that we see, but do not see. Certain poems really had me thinking on about three different levels. I have never experienced that before, and it was a remarkable feeling.
"Illustrating the Machine That Makes the World" is a truly wonderful book and I highly recommend it to all lovers of good literature. I was extremely moved by the book and its true creativity. It is very rare. I would go so far as to say there is nothing like it.


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