This collection plays with words with prefixes/suffixes that don't really exist without them, like 'whelmed.' It with dictionaries, cedes word histories, positions adjectives and juxtaposes noun kernels. Whelmed is a lively, roguish address to the reader, advancing the contrast between short poems and encyclopedic concordance. Much like Harryette Mullen’s Sleeping with the Dictionary (Univ. of California Press, 5800 copies sold), it pursues a subjective abecedarian, gleefully...
