Overview

The poems and microfiction of Word in EdgeWise, are predominately surreal and playful. Many are unified by the quirky voices of hardscrabble speakers who have experienced social and economic turmoil, and a resulting psychic instability. Via interior monologues and uncanny dialogues, speakers take liberties with standard colloquial speech, invent unusual similes, and employ unconventional variants of American idioms. They also offer startling insights and unexpected moments of wisdom. Both in spite of, and because of, speakers' peculiarities, the poems and microfiction of No. Wait. I Can Explain. seek to offer keen, if unsettling, glimpses into the darker-and often darkly humorous- underlying dimensions of contemporary American life.

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9781950063697

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Reviews

"Brad Rose's Word in Edgewise displays the madcap features that readers have come to relish in his work -- fast-talking, unreliable narrators and surreal situations depicted with brittle sympathy and manic humor. When it comes to prose poetry, Brad Rose plays, to borrow his own phrase, ""first violin in the orchestra of the absurd."" -Howie Good, author of Famous Long Ago and The Bad News First Word in Edgewise, poet Brad Rose's most recent collection, is as high energy as the title advertises. This language-driven tour de force leaves the reader breathless, from line to line and poem to poem, as the speaker explicates on everything from blind dates to mobile homes, from lightning to ghosts. In this world, blind dates are lightning and mobile homes and ghosts, as the author makes expert use of such literary devices as chiasmus and zeugma to bring it all together. Each poem is a glittering tautology, each line disparate in its sameness. The pace of this book is addicting, and you will pick it up over and over again to the delight of your senses. -Ralph Pennel, author of A World Less Perfect for Dying In, and fiction editor of Midway Journal Brad Rose: master of the synaptic leap. He unearths suppressed premises (hidden in stark sight thanks to our jones for consensus reality), leading us to the inevitable across no matter how many unexpected ceiling tiles. Multiple vectors are at subcutaneous work here, clause by clause. These paragraphs are like incognito erasure poems, extended family trees with insoluble fan charts. ""When I was counting backward in dog years, the judge sentenced my jury to another week of hard labor."" Yes, ordinary life is exactly like this. We just need reminders. -David P. Miller, author of Bend in the Stair and Sprawled Asleep"

Author Information

Brad Rose was born and raised in Los Angeles, and lives inBoston. He is the author of five collections of poetry andflash fiction: Lucky Animals, No. Wait. I Can Explain, PinkX-Ray, de/tonations, and Momentary Turbulence. Seven timesnominated for a Pushcart Prize and three times nominated forthe Best of the Net Anthology, Brad's poetry and fiction haveappeared in Los Angeles Times, The American Journal of Poetry, New York Quarterly, Puerto del Sol, Clockhouse, Folio, Cloudbank, Baltimore Review, 45th Parallel, Best Microfiction 2019, LunchTicket, Sequestrum, Unbroken, Right Hand Pointing, and otherpublications. Brad is also the author of seven poetry chapbooks, among them Democracy of Secrets, Collateral, An Evil Twin isAlways in Good Company, and Funny You Should Ask. His websiteand blog can be found at bradrosepoetry.com.

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