Bøker av Kevin Spenst

In a secularized society, what kind of faith in our collective powers and imaginations can be patch-worked together, and what might be the role of angels? Through multiple locales, languages, and spiritualities, A Bouquet Brought Back from Space both subverts and sublimates traditions of religious poetry, love poetry, and song. Playful in form and formed full of play, this fourth book of poetry by Kevin Spenst explores loss, love and faith through the palindrome, Madlib, Fibonacci, found poem, prose poem, sonnet and various strains of free verse. Spenst meditates on mental health, poetic friendships and influences, and the possibility of there being an angel assigned to the Mennonites at the beginning of their global journey. These poems sing, cry, and soothe.

The world renowned miseducational webcomic by Aaron Brassea and Kevin Spenst is now available in book form! This volume collects the first four years of the comic, including the critically acclaimed stories "Hitler vs Gandhi," "Freudian Time Slips," "Jack the Ripper: Character Assassin," "Ben Franklin, Asst Manager," and many more! Also, exclusive to this collection is an all new practice test including 25 true or false questions, 25 multiple choice questions, and 3 short answer and essay questions! "This is history told properly, for once. Compelling and magical."Michael KuppermanMark Twain's Autobiography 1910-2010, Tales Designed to Thrizzle "This may be full of more 'alternative facts' than a White House briefing or a middle school history paper, but neither of those are nearly as much fun!"Brian GardesPortland Public Schools Middle School History teacher "I keep telling you, I'm not THAT Benjamin Franklin! He died like 200 years ago! STOP EMAILING ME!"Benjamin FranklinThe United States Constitution, Fart Proudly

Poetry. In language that twists together hobo slang and flights of troubadourish diction, HEARTS AMOK scrutinizes the history of the love sonnet in Surrey, England and simultaneously celebrates the tickings and tollings of one love-struck heart in Surrey, British Columbia. Examining the underpinnings of love, this book journeys from the Middle Ages to the present where Spenst dates his way through Vancouver to finally find the love of his life.

Poetry. Most Anticipated Poetry Selection, 49th Shelf (2015). Kevin Spenst's much- anticipated debut collection of poetry opens as a coming-of-age narrative of lower-middle class life in Vancouver's suburb of Surrey, embroidered within a myriad of pop- culture and post-Mennonitism. JABBERING WITH BONG BONG interrogates memory and makes its way into the urban energies of Vancouver. Language is at play with sit-com sonnets and soundscapes of noise; videogame goombas and an Old-Testament God; teenage longing within the power chords of heavy metal and the complicated loss of a father to schizophrenia. JABBERING WITH BONG BONG, chronicles the heartbreaking and slapstick pursuit of truth in the realms of religion, mental health, and poetic form itself. The poems in JABBERING WITH BONG BONG are formally inventive, emotionally charged, and teeming with ideas. Belief and disbelief rub up against each other in this startling and flawless debut collection by Kevin Spenst. JABBERING WITH BONG BONG's urban and suburban-scapes vibrate with a controlled hysteria; a music at turns ebullient, ribald, somber. These important poems do not redeem so much as allow the possibility of redemption: `Sometimes words/mean nothing and everything. Open your mouth and see.'--Jen Currin ...JABBERING WITH BING BONG is a keen and courageous first outing. Spenst attacks his narrative with intelligence, compassion and wit; his is a voice that would lure even the most cautious character home--a voice which one would be well-advised to listen for in the future.--Arc Poetry Magazine Each of these powerful poems is a facet of the surreal. It's not bad either that they're witty, tough and funny. Surrey and its many locales has arrived as literary territory. Fleetwood. Cloverdale. Guildford Mall. Surrey Place. Johnston Heights. The Port Mann. Coast Meridian Road... The work here is in a variety of forms, including a few prose poems. The tone varies but the situation is the same. Here are 24 more reasons for jabbering with Kevin Spenst.--The Vancouver Sun

Poetry. A finalist for the Alfred G. Bailey Prize, IGNITE is a collection of elegiac and experimental poetry powder- kegged with questions about one man's lifelong struggle with schizophrenia. Born into a strict Mennonite family, Abe Spenst's mental illness spanned three decades in and out of mental institutions where he underwent electric shock treatment and coma-induced insulin therapy. Merging memory and medical records, Kevin Spenst recreates his father's life through a cuckoo's nest of styles that both stand as witness and waltz to the interplay between memory, emotion and all our forms of becoming. ...with a fearless layering of voice, IGNITE is upfront and unswerving. A novel- esque torrent tracing a troubling history of illness, part confrontation and part chronicle, this collection is daring with its dark narrative. Here is a willingness for, and enviable strength in, extending poetic range. Ignite heals and ascends. There are books that need to be written and this is one of them. This is a collection which gives more and more with every read.--Sandra Ridley, judge, Alfred G. Bailey Prize A selection of poems from IGNITE won the Lush Triumphant Award for Poetry.