Blue Wizard Is About to Die: Prose, Poems, and Emoto-Versatronic Expressionist Pieces About Video Games 1980-2003

by Seth 'Fingers' Flynn Barkan

The first collection of poetry about video games ever published, BWIATD takes its readers on a psychotic and hilarious tour through the arcade and console games of the Eighties (and beyond). Funny, approachable, and beautifully illustrated by Warren Wucinich, BWIATD is sure to delight and thrill anyone who enjoys (or has enjoyed) playing video games.

Genres: Poetry, Video Games, Games, Ebooks, Game Design

160 pages, Paperback

First published January 15, 2004

Reviews

[Greg Ivey · Rating 1 out of 5]

Gendered and homophobic slurs, one racial epithet, and two crass and pointless uses of "rape" (one as a show of domination over an opponent, the other a metaphor from a male narrator playing a male video game character). The poems are pretty shitty otherwise, mostly just maudlin garbage banking on your weakness for nostalgia, but this other shit makes it double shitty. I can't say with any certainty that it's THE WORST book of poetry released in 2003, but I can say with absolute certainty that it's the worst book of poetry released in 2003 that I read in 2013. You know what? Fuck it. This is the worst fucking goddamn thing I've read in years. This is worse than A Visit From the Goon Squad. This is worse than the first book in the Wheel of Time series. This is worse than 95% of Reddit and Youtube comments. This collection of poems is the Shaq-Fu of poetry.

I threw this book.

[Warren · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had to give this book a 5. After all, I did the illustrations.

[Cale · Rating 3 out of 5]

Poetry works best when you have shared experiences with the poets. There are some that can transcend that, but the majority are referential rather than creative. That being said, Mr. Barkan and I have a lot of experiences in common, so the poetry here worked well for me. About, and featuring, video games and their impact on his young life, there were a lot of moments that I could directly relate to, or understand very well. Kid Icarus in particular was a very evocative poem.
That 3/4 of the book worked well; the endless Appendices weren't quite as good. Two of them were basically lists of games the author liked, with occasional comments. Explaining the references was a nice touch, but doesn't work as well in an ebook.

Still, if the idea of poems about video games seems odd, this book probably won't allay your concerns. But if you're open to the idea, these poems will bring back your youth in a warm, familiar way.

[Zach · Rating 3 out of 5]

I don't know that there was an individual poem in this collection that I loved, but upon completion, Blue Wizard left me with a feeling of nostalgia, which is impressive because I've never been a video game junkie. So Barkan's accomplishment is that he shares his love of games in a way that made me miss games I never played. Or is it a feeling of sadness at a life lived virtually?

[Paul J · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hit and miss (though more miss) for me. I've never read a collection of poems and prose and (expressionist) pieces before and figured a video game-themed collection might be a good place to start. Despite liking the cover art and title (and a handful of pieces), a lot of the nuance went over my head.

[Krzysztof]

I got to 14% of the ebook.

I really, really dislike modern poetry. Mostly, because it's written in such a way, that it's really hard for a regular reader to distinguish it from gibberish. The line between "art" and "being a pointless piece of crap from a person who can mimic being an artist by sheer randomness and nonsense" is very, very thin.

Sorry, I can't appreciate this.

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

These poems are a laugh-out-loud trip down memory lane for Any Videogame playing, Atari through next generation systems child of the 70's. The dank arcades, the sprained fingers, cheat codes, blocky pixelated memories of childhood. The colorful language is a little excessive, but other than that, a fun read for the right niche audience.

[David · Rating 3 out of 5]

More videogames reference than poems book. The best part is the final part with the notes about the games on the poems.