Infiltration - Ben Groh

Today's book of poetry:  Infiltration.  Ben Groh.  Grow & Grow.  growandgrow@yahoo.ca.  2013.

Ben Groh's very handsome debut chapbook Infiltration is an entirely new kettle of fish for me.  This dazzling little book is made up of small quotes and passages from a myriad of sources.  Everyone from Dante Gabriel Rossetti to Langston Hughes, Thomas Pynchon to Walt Whitman.  Add to the mix some bible passages and some quotes from science texts.

Groh has taken one word from each of these borrowed texts to amplify a brief quote from Franz Kafka that appears on the first page and acts as both an introduction and a Rosetta Stone.

If this sounds confusing it is because I lack the skills to properly illustrate what Groh has achieved. Reading his book is probably easier than reading this particular blog.

Without using a word of his own Ben Groh has created something truly new and original (at least to this reader).  More importantly he has produced a chapbook that is wildly rich in language, ideas and style.

It is fascinating work, the finished product is really quite amazing.  And fun.


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