Obedience

by Chris Vitiello

Poetry. From its dedication "for the word 'this'" to its cascading sentences that demand "Explain yourself to this dot • " or observe "The first word was a command," Vitiello's unique OBEDIENCE creates a reading experience of poetry that borders on the compulsive. "The title of this book should be the entirety of the text of this book over again," the author suggests before urging the "Go on." Readable forwards, backwards, and laterally, this is poetry of the scientific method, not of any aesthetic or theoretical strain.

98 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2012

Reviews

[Tom · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book that can be read from forward to back, upside up or right side down, or laterally--each page is a skewed mirror image of the opposite page, each line similar to, but rarely the same as, its opposite on the other page. (This of Morton Feldman's repetition with variation, and you'll have an idea.) Tautologies, contradictions, stasis / movement, abstraction / concretion, being / nonbeing. Nicely done.