67 Mixed Messages

Ed Allen

“With breathtaking ease, Ed Allen takes on the whole tradition of the sonnet, from Shakespeare to Frost, and emerges a clear winner.... After finishing 67 Mixed Messages, I found myself echoing Allen’s constant refrain, ’I love you, Suzi, too.‘”—R.S. Gwynn

Suzi, the dark lady of these sonnets, is the breathtakingly beautiful, hopelessly elusive love object for their writer, who recognizes well the absurdity of his feelings. A collection spiked with puns and literary references, 67 Mixed Messages could best be described as a work of passionate playfulness, pained sexuality, and deadly serious jokes. Every line scans, every acrostic makes sense, and every joke (really!) is funny.