Multiple Choice Quiz

Which of the following appear in Jon Wesick’s story collection?

A. A Great Gatsby book report which fabricates a plot line

which does not appear in Fitzgerald’s book.

B. A competitive semi-final match pitting freestyle

wanderers against one another.

C. A Jayne Eyre book report in which appearances are made

by Marquis de Sade, Kwa Chang Yang (Shaolin Priest),

Louis XIV, prostitutes, and wolves that transform into

humans.

D. A lengthy description of the space-time continuum as

perceived by Cardi B.

E. None of the above.

F. All of the above except A, B, C, E, and F.

G. A, B, and C.

If you selected G, your answer is correct. Wesick’s storytelling style ventures into

extrahypersurrealistic territory. The author serves as a tour guide who creates

wild, hilarious jaunts through twisted realities, ridiculous fun, and sharp satire. – James Tiberius Babwe, Vista, California

Mickey Spillane on LSD is what Jon makes me think of. His beautiful verbiage describing the most absurd mental hallucinations lulls the reader into a certain acceptance of the unacceptable. The very idea that one would play “Three Card Monte with a llama, especially one wearing a pink bridle and straw hat,” is perfectly feasible in Jon’s universe. His knowledge of Rhinoceros and Panda Bear behavior is disquietingly detailed—what you’d expect from a man who would certainly be a five-time winner on Jeopardy, if he ever applied. The man is completely insane in the most enchanting fashion. – Bil Lewis, Computer Instructor, Priest River, Idaho

These are smart fast-paced contemporary Noir stories, that move from quantum mechanics to Jane Eyre to Oppenheimer seamlessly and with flair and confidence and a sense of humor. I loved the voice in these stories and its satirical edge that comments on all of the issues of the day from the point of view of the noir detective, always a bit puzzled to find themselves in such a complicated world. You can feel the smile and the wink of the narrator in every twist and turn and laugh. These stories are a good time! – David Banach, Editor-in-Chief of Touchstone, Goffstown, New Hampshire

Armed with the well-developed skills of an imaginative storyteller, Jon Wesick uses simile and metaphor to make absurd gestures, waving the rubber-necking reader by like “there’s nothing to see here, folks”. But there is always something to see. Wesick sets the stage with light and sound that may not always be settled neatly into one time or place. It can be felt as an amalgamation of moments, layered and stacked, hovering, shifting position, invisibly tethered to the readers’ personal experience. Wesick knows where the action is. He writes characters that can deflect an insult, throw a front-kick and drop an opponent while dropping a one-liner. Wesick is serious about humor. His language is clever, straightforward and descriptive. When a llama leaves a spoonful of spit on your face, you feel it. The wit is in the detail. -Jason Bagatta, Artist-Educator, Manchester, New Hampshire

Jon Wesick’s stories feature acidic wit that is only blunted by surrealistic silliness; they celebrate the absurd while also excoriating absurdist elements of the world. These are stories that hover between parody and satire, Dadaist tales for increasingly illogical times. – Alison Ross, Publisher and Editor of Clockwise Cat, Atlanta, Georgia

Humor is humanity on levels. The humorist pokes fun at the status quo with a wry smile and a vaguely knowing wink, the observational comedian is bitterness towards what’s there at the fullest level, while the absurdist is so perplexed by what they see they are firing in all defections, to the brink of losing their faculties. In short Jon Wesick’s humanity is on full display here, and in the rarest and most perfect form. While some absurdist writing can become rote and falls into tedium after a bit, Jon’s writing will turn 180 just when you think you know where it’s going, and his voice(s) are always dead on and in the rapidly pulsing heart of his prose. – Mark Barbere, Host of NAV Arts, Hooksett, New Hampshire

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Jon Wesick knows all the words. I know this is true because most of them appear in his book The Shaman in the Library. At least the good ones, the ones you didn’t expect to hear and too often forget to use yourself. They’re in there and they keep coming like an elusive never-ending quantum energy source that only he has the understanding to operate. These words create a world you may want to avoid actually existing in, but you sure want to find out what happens. When I’m making a spreadsheet to decide whether to kill my dog comes along, for example, it’s biologically impossible to not keep reading to see where this is going. Even words you may not want to read are in there which he, thankfully acknowledges in a litany of trigger warning phrases that give you the opportunity to choose for yourself. Sometimes you get the illusion everything is fine, but then suddenly larvae and banshees and polar bears with jailhouse tattoos come along and you’re reminded these are poems forged from an electrified imagination. The Buddha pops in to ground you, and, of course, there’s food at the end because you can’t make your way through such an epic collection without a little nosh at the end. One thing I know for sure: You should read this book. You should let Jon Wesick redefine poetry for you (at least 25 times!) You may be grateful to return to your own world, but you’ll be sneaking glimpses back into his over and over. And yes, Jon, you do have time to read one more poem. Please do.

Rick Lupert, author of The Tokyo-Van Nuys Express

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Fascinating, deeply subversive and ironic, Jon Wesick’s The Shaman in the Library is a stunning collection that traverses strange and neo-surreal landscapes by defamiliarizing the quotidian. Poems about Lagrangian mechanics, buddha, dangerous vegetables and odes to porn stars, laziness, tofu and sesshin participants create extraordinary juxtapositions with stark and satiric works including building a weapon of mass destruction, a rifle incantation and an anti-Trump rally.  Wesick’s poems challenge convention, revel in uncanny encounters and, with savage wit, demonstrate the power of poetry as a political tool for change. In The Shaman in the Library, Wesick reminds us that “the pen is a firing squad”.

Cassandra Atherton – Professor of Writing and Literature at Deakin University and coauthor of Prose Poetry: An Introduction