Review – Aim For The Head: An Anthology of Zombie Poetry

Aim For The Head by Rob Sturma

I’m tentative with poetry. Although I like it, I’m always slightly worried that a new volume of poetry will be over my head. Being rather direct, I take an uninterested view of poetry that depends heavily on metaphor. I like being engaged by story and character and being so charmed by them that I can’t help but explore them, metaphors and all, after I’ve shut the book. I wasn’t so worried about that with Aim For The Head – rather, I was concerned that the offerings would be less poetic than simply silly: the theme is zombies, after all.

The online reviews indicated the contributors had all taken their writing for it seriously, if sometimes tongue-in-cheek (infer your own zombie joke there), so I purchased the book. And I’m not sorry I did.

There is silly in the book – a poem that consists entirely of the word ‘brains’, but even the silly has been rendered amusing by the poet’s wit and presentation; the silly poems are waggish, not sophomoric.

The viewpoints are varied: a woman who hopes her ex’s wedding turns out to be the Zombie Apocalypse, revenge of cheated-upon wives, survivor perspectives, and zombie perspectives. There are even a few that are not really about zombies at all, such as Steve Ramirez’s ‘Night of the Living’, and Matt Mason’s ’13 Ways of Looking at a Baby (and Please Note: This Poem Has Nothing To Do With Zombies)’. The weakest poem for me was Slappy Seasholtz’s ‘Zombie Standup’, but even that was able to set me wondering what Gary Shandling or Milton Berle would be like if they were zombies.

Admittedly, I am a zombie fan. I see the movies, although I tend to like zombies more in the abstract – as a possibility – than for any other reason. And I am a writer who reads poetry to improve my writing as well as because I enjoy it. So I suppose it might be more natural for me than for others to even consider picking up a book of poetry with zombies as a theme. But if you should happen to pick this one up for similar reasons, I don’t think you will be disappointed.

TANKA: YET ANOTHER POEM ABOUT THE ZOMBIE APOCALYPSE PART 2
By Curtis X Meyer

The worst part about
the zombie apocalypse
won’t be the smell, nor
wondering if we’ll live, but
pretending it’s not awesome.

Now I Are a Published Author

The anthology containing my first published story is now out on Amazon in paperback and the epub is close behind. If you’re not a vampire story fan, please don’t feel obliged to view, but if you are or know those who are, please consider it.

Back Copy

Life doesn’t stop being complicated just because you’re dead.

In the old days, vampires were sexy, ruthless, and evil.  They could, and would, compel the living to do whatever they wanted. They owned the night. Unfortunately, being undead in modern times has unexpected and disturbing challenges.

Now nine authors take an amused, and sometimes grim look at the problems some vampires face in the twenty-first century. In Thin White Duke in Sneakers, a newly turned environmental activist and confirmed vegan has some serious issues with his politically incorrect vampire diet. Family life is disrupted in Uncle Dmitri when the police suddenly want to know what kindly Uncle Dmitri might be doing at night besides driving a cab;  A young artist in Take My Breath Away desperately seeks a real vampire to turn her into an immortal only to discover she will still need to get a job to pay her rent. In the Face on the Coin [my story] unlife is complicated by obsession, a vampire ghost and time travel. Farmer is a tale of the far-future where humans may well be hunted off the face of the Earth. Sunrise Decision is the compelling story of a young marine in Fallujah who can only stop a murderous predator by making his own, personal life and death decision. In They Shall Take Up Serpents, a predatory Revivalist preacher is brought to justice by a vampire and a cage full of snakes.  In Sale Season intrigue and vampire romance haunt the art galleries of Europe while Cursed Blood asks the eternal question: Do you always have to bite the one you love?

These authors were inspired to write by various TV shows, from Star Trek, Forever Knight, Buffy The Vampire Slayer (& Angel) to White Collar, Burn Notice, Vampire Diaries, Being Human, etc. and have made the leap from fanfiction to professional writing. All these stories are original universes.