Michael Gizzi

This was a small volume of poetry I happened to find in a box, buried beneath rather mundane things, common things, various other books of poetry I had seen before and did not care to see. The giant box of books belonged to an english teacher I had been quite fond of when I was 17. I imagine he was at least a little fond of my personality as there he was letting me dig through a number of long forgotten boxes of books he had stored away. THERE IT WAS, The Species of Intoxication, and I knew it was for me. However, I was not prepared in the slightest for the dense, enigmatic words that were before me. In short, this book marked an important change in the way I looked at poetry, and all written word in general. Already quite open to experimentation at that time, this book taught me that the deepest, darkest abstractions could in fact reside in the very controlled language and form of the classic structures. Highly recommended to anyone with an affinity for brooding peculiarity!… (mer)