Strange Vegetables

by G.O. Clark, M. Wayne Miller (Illustrator)

Harpo Marx's pockets. The truth about crop circles. Bizarre job opportunities. A robot poet. A flashback to the Sixties. Within the cornucopia that is Strange Vegetables you will find these and other speculations on things scientific and fantastical, real and surreal, complete with a special garnish here and there to illuminate a poem.Praise for Strange "With brevity, wit, and a dash of the surreal, the poems in G.O. Clark's Strange Vegetables serve up snapshots of diverse speculative scenarios -- at times profound in their insight, often strange in their imagination, always entertaining!" - Bruce Boston, Bram Stoker Award author of Pitchblende and Shades Fantastic"I've enjoyed Clark's amazing poetry for over a decade, and this collection holds some of my top favorites and many new ones. These poems are all Strange Vegetables, diverse morsels, dark and light from Clark's personal garden of verse." - Marge Simon, Bram Stoker Award winning poet, Vectors, A week in the Death of a Planet."Strange Vegetables is a wok full of steamed whimsy. Venerable poet G.O. Clark's playful verse induces a smile on every page, punctuated with the occasional shock of melancholy recognition or an urgent, earnest tug on the heartstrings." - Mike Allen, award winning author of The Journey to Kailash.

Genres: Poetry

54 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 15, 2009

About the author

G. O. Clark is the author of 16 collections of poetry, the most recent "Tombstones: Selected Horror Poems", 2022, and 3 short story collections. His work has appeared in many publications over the last 30+ years, including Asimov's Science Fiction, Analog, Space & Time, Daily SF, Strange Horizons, Spectral Realms, Talebones, Mythic Delirium, Midnight Under The Big Top, Daily SF, Speculateif Magazine (BE) and many more. His work has been included in a number of anthologies, including, HWA Poetry Showcase, A Sea of Alone: poems for Alfred Hitchcock, Retro Spec: Tales of Fantasy and Nostalgia, Penumbra #3, and numerous Rhysling Anthologies.
He won the Asimov's Readers Award for best poem in 2001, and was a Stoker Award finalist in 2011. He was born in 1945 in Norfolk, MA and moved to CA in 1959 where he has resided ever since. He retired from library work at University of Calif. Davis after 25 years in 2008 and now resides in a mobile home with a beat up old guitar, and way too many books and cds.
More info at - - http://goclarkpoet.weebly.com

Reviews

[Monster]

In this poetry collection, you will find everything from robot poets to creationist theories, with a smattering of little alien goodies, a sure sign of a speculative poet. The poetry in Strange Vegetables is simultaneously fun, lyrical, entertaining and thought-provoking. At first pass through, G.O. Clark’s poetry sparks with witty repartee. He writes as though he’s had some crazy dreams that had to be put to paper immediately upon waking. The reader who goes back through a second or even third time, will see deeper meanings.
Poetry is often a hard sell for me, but I fell in love with Strange Vegetables almost immediately. Clark has such an incredible way with words; he is direct and to the point, and evokes an enormous array of emotions from the reader. One poem will elicit a surprising laugh, while the next will cause one to pause, reflect, and feel a sense of culpability. The poetry contained within Strange Vegetables is captivating and provocative and immediately quotable for ready listeners.
Strange Vegetables would be right at home in a public library, but would be a better fit with readers of science fiction, rather than horror.
Review by Kelly Fann

[E.S. Wynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fun collection of surreal and sci-fi poetry with interesting collage art throughout.