ALIENS, MAGIC, AND MONSTERS by Lauren McBride
Rating is 5.0 out of five stars based on 1 review
Fun to read. Fun to write. Aliens, Magic, and Monsters features poems set in the unlimited and imaginative realm of science fiction, fantasy, and horror. The poems were chosen to showcase over twenty poetic forms from acrostiku to zip, from strict rhyme to free verse, and much more in between. There are guidelines included on how to write each type of poem. Try a sci(na)ku. At only six words, it's sure to interest even the youngest readers.
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Reviews
Lauren McBride’s debut poetry collection is short, but packs the might of micropoetry. Officially weighing in at 52 pages, it contains 28 pages of 39 poems divided into three sections (science fiction, fantasy, and horror) with four pages of appendices that explain the different forms of poetry that appear in the book.
These explanations are part of the book’s premise, to introduce readers, particularly younger readers to the wonders of speculative poetry. As McBride says in her introduction, “most poems are ten lines of less for unhurried, entertaining reading.” Each poem ends with a bracketed form label so that readers can easily identify the form and read more about it in the back of the book.
I breezed through the collection, then reread it, marking my highlights starting at the first poem
planetarium’s
cosmic wonders
daydreaming each destination
McBride’s poems in this collection have a gentle humor and she is particularly adept at twisting a poem unexpectedly as it ends, crafting that aha moment of a haiku or the volta of a sonnet with apparent ease. For instance, in “beauty - skin deep” in chained sci(na)ku she describes a wizard who animates tattoos
“body art
set
in motion - making
the skin
crawl”
Looking through the appendix, I found two poetic forms I was unfamiliar with. McBride has included forms from acrostic to cherita to golden shovel to nonet, saturne, variations on sci(na)ku and many others.
Because the collection is directed toward younger readers and those interested in learning more about poetic form, I handed the book to my 12-year-old son, who has dabbled with poetry. I asked him to followed my process and read and highlight his favorite poems. He read in his bedroom while I worked in the kitchen I could hear his chuckles or exclamatory sounds as he finished each poem. He marked half the poems in the collection as highlights, like “Searching My Ticket Collection”:
Fly a one-way trip
to the Moon or Mars.
Hop a rocketship
to the farthest stars
Of all my tickets -
which one would work best
to avoid next week’s
pre-algebra test?
His report confirmed to me that this collection is accessible and enjoyable for younger readers as well as salty vets and would make a good companion collection to speculative poetry workshops.