Poetry
Late Victorians
- Publisher
- Véhicule Press, “Signal Editions” series
- Published
- April 1, 2016
- Pages
- 88
- Price
- $17.95
- ISBN
- 9781550654400
- Language
- English
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Sense-resisting parables full of deranged twists and dizzying embellishments.
“I was only born into the world,” begins one of Vincent Colistro’s poems, “didn’t invade it, didn’t ransom it for a nicer one.” The Late Victorians, Colistro’s debut, is a beguilingly irreverent investigation of the life he was “born into.” Hyper-fluent, riding wave after wave of copious invention, Colistro builds his weirdness from scratch, turning simple ideas into sense-resisting parables full of deranged twists and dizzying embellishments. (“We Rick-rolled, we raised / pre-flop, we flapped our pool noodles / at each other’s caboose.”) Wily, witty and packed with brilliant sleights of hand, The Late Victorians announces an original talent.
Advance Praise:
“The Late Victorians re-sets the machinery. The voice here is way beyond chatter; these narratives arrive cock-eyed because they take place just adjacent to life’s usual misery. Vincent Colistro’s poems have things to tell us, slantwise, manic, wry, desperate, dishevelled, and stylish.” –Ken Babstock, author of On Malice
“Dashing and brilliant, Vincent Colistro’s Late Victorians is an unforgettable book of poetry about leaving youth behind to assemble a complete, fortified rhetoric full of catchy riffs and hilarious, precise revelations.” –David McGimpsey, author of Asbestos Heights
Reviews
[Colistro’s] ornate phrasings and original imagery force us into awe. –Jeramy Dodds, Short Grain contest judge’s comment.
Description from the publisher Véhicule Press, seen in October 2026 · Source ↗
From Véhicule Press
-
We Drove All Day for This Bruce Taylor
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Qaf’s People Sadiqa de Meijer
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My Summer Vacation Zeenat Nagree
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Cannibal Rats Richard Greene
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Morgan’s Castle Jan Hilliard
-
How to Move On Joel Yanofsky
-
Private Number David Homel
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Fan Mail Jason Guriel
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The Inferno Dante Alighieri
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Quietly, Loving Everyone Curtis John McRae
