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Book Review of Archy and Mehitabel

Archy and Mehitabel
hoopridge avatar reviewed on + 252 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 3


I first heard about these poems when a woman in the theatre department at MSU (Go green!) did a monologue as Mehitabel. I was intrigued and vowed to get the book. I did.

Some may get turned off by the style of the writing, and, to be honest, it does take a few reads to understand it, since there is no capitalization or punctuation. [The concept of the book is that Archy is a cockroach poet who writes the poems by bouncing on the typewriter keys, so he can't do the "shift" key.] After a poem or two, you get used to it and you get sucked into Archy's philosophies and Mehitabel's grandiose ideas; for example, she claims to be a reincarnation of Cleopatra...

Wonderful poems and almost life-changing creeds. Uplifting and thought-provoking.