Quasi-Metalloid (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9781971740041)

Karla Myn Khine's poetry arrives at the place where irony reverses polarity and the comic within cosmic emerges, each line laughing as it cries. Khine's work is alive to the vastness and the brevity of everyday life, showing, in deft slippages between Word and World, how experience can renew its innocence. -ANDREW JORON

Karla's work has always had a sobering effect on me. It snaps me out of the poison of boredom. Her work is severely sharp with no wasted lines or space. The ingredients are organic, yet otherworldly; she'll take you to outer space just to shove your face into a patch of grass. Quasi-Metalloid is a high-level craft that cruises without snobbery or pretension. Her poem "Material Crisis" is a perfect example: far-out experimentation with crystal-clear accessibility. Karla isn't afraid to treat a quark, a Walgreens bag, Buddha, or an empty GoGurt container with equal respect. But don't let her wits fool you-this book will make you cry. Read her poem "Cancer." It will grab you and pull you close and remind you what's important in life. It takes incredible effort and courage to write poetry like this. You have to have heart. Karla's heart is a whole universe. -MICHAEL GALLAGHER