The Anthology of Spam Poetry. Ed. Morton Hurley. Houston: Vértice 1925, 2007. 76 pp. Paperback. $10.00.

I had never read spam poetry, also called "spoetry," until I read The Anthology of Spam Poetry, edited by Morton Hurley. The foreword, written by K. Silem Mohammed, and the editor’s introduction explain that the collection is based on the spam received by featured poets in their email inboxes. I tend to delete those things unopened, so the prospect of reading poetry about penis enlargement didn’t appeal to me. However, I was pleasantly surprised. Not every poem is sexually themed. In fact, topics range from finance to religion to war.

This spoetry can best be described as experimental and avant-garde. They have virtually no form except for two haiku sequence poems and a tanka piece. Some poets are very creative and use spelling and punctuation to underscore dominant ideas and themes. High quality black and white photographs, loosely illustrating the poems near them, appear sporadically throughout the book, breaking up the poems into digestible segments.

My favorite poem in the anthology is “Jet-Propelled Accession Destruction” by Dmitrij Mehajlovich. He captures war in all its desolation, as illustrated in these lines:

In the mountains in the northwest, water,
luxuriating in the smelly, rotten coolness. He could have
lain like destroying nature.

Another strong poem is “No Compromise Monday” by Sanjay Ray. The opening line rings so true:

You throw filth on the living and flowers on the dead.

I didn’t realize spam could be so philosophical. Of course, there’s plenty of poems mentioning Viagra and penis enlargement — too many for my tastes, though.

The Anthology of Spam Poetry is a twisted look at today’s problems, sure to offend the sensitive and the traditional. But for those of us who view the world differently or want fresh perspectives, then this book is worth it.

— Karen Newman