Making Love in an Air-Conditioned Casket

Eli Brumbaugh, Marla Burse, Mercedes Sturz, Stephanie McFall
Lulu Press (2005)
ISBN 1411635736
Reviewed by William Phenn for Reader Views (5/06)

This is an anthology of the works of four authors that have come together to write a very interesting volume of random thought poetry. It is difficult to say much about the authors as there is not much information available about them. I did find two of them on a particular network and one on an Anime site. Seems to me that they have a somewhat Goth tendency. If I am wrong, I apologize and repeat, “Just my opinion”.

“Making Love in an Air-Conditioned Casket” is a poetry book that will not appeal to everyone. It is not intended for general audiences and should be labeled with an R rating. Some of the language is very direct and leaves nothing to the imagination. I am not a puritanical conservative, but language such as this could have been tempered and still get the point across.

Poetic expression takes many forms and as long as I have been a writer it never ceases to amaze me. But free form or whatever, poetic expression still needs editing. This book not only lacks editing, but also lacks the basics of any good book. I would have appreciated knowing a little about the authors, or reading an introduction of some sort. That would have helped to clarify some of the complexities of this book. I found the book to be 108 pages of four people spouting babble. There were a few poems here and there that were worth taking the time to read, but for the most part the poetry is comprised of dark, random thoughts. I am not saying these writers don’t have talent, all I am saying is they don’t show it here. For the people that know me and know my capability as a fair reviewer. I could not in good conscience recommend a book which I personally think needs a lot of work. So this is the reason, I give "Making Love in an Air-Conditioned Casket" a C and no more.

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