Review by FC Lee of "A Guide for the Practical Abductee" by E. Kristin Anderson

E. Kristin Anderson

This Elgin-nominated chapbook contains seventeen poems of a paranormal persuasion: ghosts, cryptids, the Bermuda Triangle. Perhaps these would have appealed to me more had I not read the book on the heels of Allie Marini's "Southern Cryptozoology: A Field Guide to Beasts of the Southern Wild" http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2016/07/review-by-fc-lee-of-southern.html. Both chapbooks cover similar territory, but I found Allie Marini's poems more moving and more powerful. That said, I liked several of the poems, my favorites being "The Sasquatch" and "Upon Discovering Crop Circles in Iowa." The latter poem contains the fine stanza:

   In daylight, there is no fear -- only glory,

breathless.      My brother took me out in his glider

   to look down     and see the stars,    the planets,

          how they aligned right into my earth.

I wasn't initially familiar with some of the topics, including the Leeds baby, Flight 19, el chupacabra, and Chessie. This probably reflects the fact that I am not the right audience for these poems. Take my opinion with a pinch of salt. Other reviewers have been much more enthusiastic. (Maybe they hadn't recently read "Southern Cryptozoology"!)  "A Guide for the Practical Abductee" is available from Red Bird Chapbooks for twelve dollars http://www.redbirdchapbooks.com/AGuideForThePracticalAbductee.

--Mary Soon Lee