Ben Kline

Dead Uncles Ben Kline

"A great chapbook drills deep, yielding such vibrant detail that we cannot help but inhabit the world built before us. That's the case of the bracing, strangely beautiful Dead Uncles, which proposes a reality (and sur-reality) of a sprawling, intergenerational family whose bonds are inflected by sexual transgression. One dead uncle casts a spell for killing barn mice; another keeps his hold on local office thanks to votes tallied from the 'Cemetery Precinct.' Material that could seem grim in another poet's hands is set a-glimmer here by formal dexterity, bold humor, bright images, and musicality of phrasing."




-Sandra Beasley, Count the Waves