Hello from beyond the grave.

WONDROUS THINGS I HAVE SEEN

by BRANDON BROWN

From the "introduction" of Wondrous Things I Have Seen by Brandon Brown:

The formal structure of Wondrous Things I Have Seen is derived from the ancient and medieval Arabic form called saj’. The saj’ is decorative prose which rhymes, and which often makes use of rhythms more common in verse. The prophet Muhammad said, "Avoid ye the rhyming prose of the soothsayers or diviners."

From Wondrous Things I Have Seen by Brandon Brown:

My sex left me at the confluence of two rivers, assuming the rising flood would do its job of killing. The flood bubbled around my lungs and made all my blood soggy but I was lucky—a wolf came over and put teats in my mouth and I sucked. Scary wolf, so brazen and shameless to force open my mouth and make bite on teats my teeth. Bashless wolf, do you not know that hunters lurk near these rivers, who hanker for jackets of wolfskin? The spot where the floodwaters ebbed was part of two ranches owned by Ronald Reagan, collectively known as Ronald Reagan Ranch. A ranch hand found me coddled by wolves, let wolves live, clasped by the rear he reared me on the ranch, extending the borders of his working day so it knew no bounds. Fortunate rancher, he did not know I would be the king of anatomically-camel ranch hands, endorsed by Vulcan to stamp forehead by lightning at my discretion. My crown tasted like a coin or teat. So first thing I did was hunt, trap, beat, exterminate wolves.

Specs:

• 19 writings on 25 sheets of 100% post-consumer, acid-free paper

• beautiful cover drawings, front and back, by Kari Freitag

• hand assembled in Lawrence, Kansas

$11, postage paid (to United States and the Canadas)