A compulsive read! Brendan Constantine’s wit and pain are evident in this, his latest book of poetry. His next, Dementia Darling, is out in the spring.
The book is written as a dream sequence, showing vivid imagination in describing his childhood memories. The book has ‘rooms’ in which poems address us, the readers or the past in metaphor. There are clever internal rhymes within lines and the world we live in is at times seemingly mocked yet remains true. The narrator is the fictitious Calamity Joe who works in a laboratory. Constantine has a remarkable gift to surprise and captivate. Calamity Joe will not disappoint. (less)
Chrissie Morris Brady
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