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drakaina16's review
dark
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? N/A
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? N/A
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.5
This is an excellent collection of bizarro and horror poetry. It contains some of the best horror poetry I've read recently. The Troublesome Amputee is my first John Edward Lawson book and he is definitely on my radar now. I can't wait to read some of his novels. 4.5 stars, rounded up.
sarahconnor89757's review against another edition
5.0
A great book of poetry for one who doesn't like poetry.
brennanlafaro's review against another edition
4.0
I’m still new to the poetry scene and Raw Dog Screaming has been a beacon of light helping me navigate the waters. John Edward Lawson’s 2006 collection, The Troublesome Amputee, doesn’t quite fit with any poetry I’ve read or reviewed before. To be fair, if the title and cover art didn’t get across the possibilities for what you’re about to immerse yourself in, Michael Arnzen’s introduction would likely do the trick.
The pieces in Lawson’s collection comes in all shapes and sizes, categorized mainly as dark poetry that employs some more traditional aspects, but also gets experimental in other places. The Troublesome Amputee even has limericks. I read between five and ten poems a day as I took my time wading through this collection, and quickly found that each day, each exploration held something new for me.
A reader might find themselves enveloped in social commentary. Turn the page. Grisly horror. Flip. Satire. Flip. Outright humor. Flip. Something so bizarre, you have to reread it to make sure you didn’t miss something. Lawson takes the reader on a journey, and I wasn’t far along on the ride, before realizing this would be something I’d want to do again and picking up another collection by the author. For anyone interested, the poem that made me temporarily close the book and go in search of more is called Full of Flava, and drips with social satire.
Some of my other favorites in the collection include the almost outright horror of Tricks of the Trade, the use of repetition in Past, and the back to back hits of Plunder Revisited and Demands of the Voluptuous Virginal Sacrifice. As a superhero nerd, Marvels of Horror made my day, with Doctor Doom being my personal favorite portion. Finally, Lawson’s homage to Chuck Palahniuk’s Survivor is a great longer form poem to cap the collection.
I’d be disingenuous if I claimed to understand the absolute intent of the artist in every single work contained within. I’ve certainly developed an appreciation for poetry, but it still occasionally flies over my head at alarming rates. I will say that even the poems that left me scratching my head provided horrific or startling imagery to sit and ponder. Lawson made me think, even if that train of thought didn’t lead me to any specific destination. That, my friends, makes for an author worth revisiting.
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher for review consideration.
The pieces in Lawson’s collection comes in all shapes and sizes, categorized mainly as dark poetry that employs some more traditional aspects, but also gets experimental in other places. The Troublesome Amputee even has limericks. I read between five and ten poems a day as I took my time wading through this collection, and quickly found that each day, each exploration held something new for me.
A reader might find themselves enveloped in social commentary. Turn the page. Grisly horror. Flip. Satire. Flip. Outright humor. Flip. Something so bizarre, you have to reread it to make sure you didn’t miss something. Lawson takes the reader on a journey, and I wasn’t far along on the ride, before realizing this would be something I’d want to do again and picking up another collection by the author. For anyone interested, the poem that made me temporarily close the book and go in search of more is called Full of Flava, and drips with social satire.
Some of my other favorites in the collection include the almost outright horror of Tricks of the Trade, the use of repetition in Past, and the back to back hits of Plunder Revisited and Demands of the Voluptuous Virginal Sacrifice. As a superhero nerd, Marvels of Horror made my day, with Doctor Doom being my personal favorite portion. Finally, Lawson’s homage to Chuck Palahniuk’s Survivor is a great longer form poem to cap the collection.
I’d be disingenuous if I claimed to understand the absolute intent of the artist in every single work contained within. I’ve certainly developed an appreciation for poetry, but it still occasionally flies over my head at alarming rates. I will say that even the poems that left me scratching my head provided horrific or startling imagery to sit and ponder. Lawson made me think, even if that train of thought didn’t lead me to any specific destination. That, my friends, makes for an author worth revisiting.
I was given a copy of this book by the publisher for review consideration.
xterminal's review
3.0
John Edward Lawson, The Troublesome Amputee (Raw Dog Screaming, 2006)
I knew when picking up a poetry collection from a bizarro press that I wasn't going to be getting work that one would normally see published in The Paris Review. I tried to steel myself against that (though I tend to be a harsher judge of poetry than any other artistic medium) and just sit back and enjoy the ride. And surprisingly (to me), I found myself able to do so a good bit of the time where The Troublesome Amputee was concerned; it's not just because of my affinity for the overarching theme here, but because Lawson does have at least enough poetic chops to know when he doesn't have the poetic chops to tackle something. Because of this, the book veers widely in tone from stuff that sounds a lot like poetry that you'd see in B-zines (the kind that pay in contributor's copies), and some that just sounds straight-out bizarro, stream-of-consciousness rather than crafted. And for once, when reviewing a poetry collection, I'm not trying to say that like it's a bad thing.
“There once was a werewolf from Nantucket
who kept warm viscera in a bucket
With sharpened talons and teeth
he would rend human meat
to get at the marrow and suck it”
(“Werewolf limerick #1”)
I was going to say “that's the kind of stuff I see in micropress magazines all the time”, but it's probably above that level, at least slightly, for the way Lawson turns the conventional limerick in upon itself in the last line. Be that as it may, one way or the other it's a lot of fun. So's the rest of the book. Worth your time. ***
I knew when picking up a poetry collection from a bizarro press that I wasn't going to be getting work that one would normally see published in The Paris Review. I tried to steel myself against that (though I tend to be a harsher judge of poetry than any other artistic medium) and just sit back and enjoy the ride. And surprisingly (to me), I found myself able to do so a good bit of the time where The Troublesome Amputee was concerned; it's not just because of my affinity for the overarching theme here, but because Lawson does have at least enough poetic chops to know when he doesn't have the poetic chops to tackle something. Because of this, the book veers widely in tone from stuff that sounds a lot like poetry that you'd see in B-zines (the kind that pay in contributor's copies), and some that just sounds straight-out bizarro, stream-of-consciousness rather than crafted. And for once, when reviewing a poetry collection, I'm not trying to say that like it's a bad thing.
“There once was a werewolf from Nantucket
who kept warm viscera in a bucket
With sharpened talons and teeth
he would rend human meat
to get at the marrow and suck it”
(“Werewolf limerick #1”)
I was going to say “that's the kind of stuff I see in micropress magazines all the time”, but it's probably above that level, at least slightly, for the way Lawson turns the conventional limerick in upon itself in the last line. Be that as it may, one way or the other it's a lot of fun. So's the rest of the book. Worth your time. ***
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