Christina - Crank

By Anonymous -
I'd like to focus on the form of this book.  I enjoyed the fact that the book was written purely in poetry; however, no two poems were alike.  Each had its own aesthetic appeal.  Some took the form of concrete poems.  An example of this was on page 207 with the poem titled "Changed."  The poem talks about prayer and takes the form of a cross.  It also displays duality which means it conveys two different meanings in one text.  Reading it vertically describes how Kristina believes that there is no point in praying because God is too busy worrying about people who deserve answered prayers.  Yet, when reading it horizontally, the poem conveys the opposite.  She prays, pleading that God take care of her.  I think the messages here are very powerful to the turmoil that Kristina is going through. 

Another example of aesthetic creativity in her poems' forms is in what I want to call the "summation" forms like on page 174 with the poem "To Speed or Not to Speed?"  Both columns of the poem work together to make a complete context and textual thought.  However, just reading the right left side, it completely summarizes the poem by stating "anywhere / anytime / anyway / I could. / the monster  / and I / had become - / best / friends."  I loved the hidden poetry within the poem that makes up the entire book!  I loved that and thought it was interesting.

Finally, a huge idea that I think is overlooked is in the titles of each poem.  If you read all of the titles (and only the titles) the book could be understood and referenced in a big picture.  It's like the titles themselves summarize the book.  For example, "Flirting with the monster / Introduction / Alone / On Bree / More on Bree / My Mom will Tell you / Aboard United 1425 / Two Hours into the Flight / Hot Landing / The Prince of Albuquerque / Mutual Assessment / I got in a Car with a Stranger / Small Talk Shrank to Minuscule / You Call This a Castle? / Not my type."  
Just the first few poem titles tell a story.  Of course the details of the poems help to understanding the titles, but on their own tell a story.  It's fun to read it that way. 

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