Marriage is not a splendid form of love
for poet John Tottenham. It is sort of a combination of hell and a
bad night out. Or maybe the one and the other are the same.
Nevertheless "Antiepithalamia" is a collection of bite
sized poems that gives the reader a very humorous ride into the
outskirts of an imagined state of mind where the need is too much of
a bother. The flip side of Pablo Neruda's love poetry, Tottenham
serves as the dark prince or adviser to those who find the taste of
love... a slight disappointment. That feeling is well documented
and well-said through Tottenham's skill with the right turn of a
phrase.
Reading this beautifully designed book
(like all the other editions by the publisher Penny-Ante) is sort of
like the Bonnie & Clyde of paper meets poet. The book is
beautiful to hold and look at, but it contains the poison of its
poetry - and its the poison that adds the aftertaste of romantic
failure done in a very seductive heady manner. Once can say
"Antihistamine" is an anti-valentine classic, but I see it
as the essential book for that holiday and times. The Baudelaire of
Los Angeles tasting the bitter yet desirable fruit that is past its
prime - yet the aspects of love is hanging on a desired tree. it is
how one eats the fruit, that is the art of it all.
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