Huge Praise from Luna Park on "Chipmunks," Monkeybicycle 8

The online journal Luna Park has published quite a flattering review of Monkeybicycle 8, which in recent months had published my bizarro epic poem "Chipmunks." Reviewer Nicholas Ripatrazone had this to say:

Two poems I especially enjoyed were “Maro and Raquel” by E. Michael Desilets and “Chipmunks” by Steve Peacock [audio link]...

“Chipmunks” is an excellent editorial transition from “The End of Jimmy.” The poem begins “Having arrived / at the choice”—a nice movement from the narrative malleability of the preceding story. This poems is grounded directly in the moment of a possible suicide set to the song “Whipping Post.” “Chipmunks” is arranged for visual reading, yet the narrative thrives on a continuation of acoustics complimenting the action. Music “slaps” from “screaming speakers” before “meander[ing]” and “vibrating” a photograph. Later the “throbbing bass penetrates / the square-bottled liter / of Jack on his lips” and “shattered glass sings as it scatters across the floor.” The poem remains in this moment as long as possible, though, seeing it through to the inevitable end of the song, with

The audience
of the live recording
applauds his performance,
fades to silence;

He questions: “What song shall I die to?” The turn here is hilarious, but darkly so, considering the poem never truly leaves the establish moment:

A-L-L-M-A-N
of the Allman Brothers Band
has been succeeded by the
A-L-V-I-N
of Alvin and the Chipmunks.

The final sound of the poem is

a series of staccato
clanks
into the empty
metal
wastepaper basket
on the floor.

Thanks, Nicholas, for this fine review. We creative people need such affirmation occasionally. Okay, as often as possible.

For a closer look into the editorial brains behind Monkeybicycle, see an interview that Nicholas conducted with editors Shya Scanlon and Steve Seighman.