Synopsis:

Lyrical and explosive, this debut book of poetry explores Alex Lemon’s experiences as a brain surgery patient. Mosquito blends autobiography and poetry, bearing witness to a young man’s journey through serious illness and his emergence into a world where eroticism, hope, and wisdom allow him to see life in a wholly new way.Mosquito is a resilient meditation that is as much Zen as it is explosive, as clinical as it is philosophical and lyrical.

Book Excerpt:

 MRI

An old man is playing fiddle in my head. 
At least that’s what the doctor says,
pointing, as he holds my MRI to the light. 

He must be eating the same hot dogs
my nephew microwaves. My nephew sees 
Bob the Builder everywhere—smiling 

in sauerkraut, sawing in the drifting sky. 
Afternoons he names me Bob, knocks 
my knee with a plastic hammer. I’m half-

naked, shivery with chicken skin, 
napkin-gowned. But I don’t laugh 
because I think the veined cobweb 

looks like Abe Lincoln’s profile on the penny. 
So let’s pretend I’m not sick at all. 
I’m filled with golden tumors— 

love for the nurse who feeds me 
to the machine. The machine worse 
than any death—the powerlessness 

of a shaved & strapped-down body. 
Even in purgatory you can wear earrings 
& though the music might crack a spine, 

at least in that torture, the tears from your arm’s 
needle marks are mouth wateringly sweet

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Genre:

Poetry

Type of Work:

Poetry Collection

Publishers:

Tin House Books

Purchase From:

Tin House Books
Powell's Books
Amazon

Original Publish Date:

September 1, 2006

Formats and associated ISBNs:

0-9773127-4-7

Formats:

Paperback

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