Abracadabratude

This is a hilarious book, an erudite one, and truly moving.

- Barbara Egel, Light Magazine

If Alexander Pope and Wendy Cope got married, and their child grew up in the Sixties, his name would be Chris O'Carroll. Have a look at "Toke Me out to the Ball Game" and the monorhyme tour de force of "Postcard from the Afterlife," then enjoy the carnal wit and romantic transcendence of "Deep in Zero" and "Owl and Pussy-Cat Honeymoon," and see if you disagree. The comedy in the expansive range of this collection is judiciously seasoned throughout with observations that are confessional, beautiful, and deeply human. Simply put, Abracadabratude is the marriage of verse and pleasure at its very best.

- Leslie Monsour, author of The Colosseum Critical Introduction to Rhina P. Espaillat

Chris O'Carroll has been delighting me for years with his poetic reminders that the world of words and relationships is stranger than we can imagine. He sends a postcard from heaven that ends with the reflection "Damned if I can tell how I got in here." He contemplates cheese and determines that "For justifying God's ways, Stilton/has the edge on malt and Milton." He is also revealed here as a master of the Quirky Love Poem, my personal favorite being "Good Enough Love Song," which declares "Though I know I am not God's gift to women,/God knows I might be good enough for you."

The O'Carroll originality and weirdness keep waylaying me in unexpected ways, and this book shows him at the height of his comic & cosmic genius.

- Gail White, author of Catechism and contributing editor of Light

Chris O'Carroll writes clever, funny verse, but don't let him fool you; he's one serious poet, a master craftsman with such a wealth of wit, I imagine him raising a glass with the gang at the Mermaid Tavern. Those Elizabethans would have welcomed him as a kindred spirit.

- from the Introduction by Alfred Nicol, author of Animal Psalms