Rules to Change the World by Philip Venzke

“Brilliantly conceived and brilliantly executed!”

 –Larry Watson, author of Montana 1948.

“In his delightful second collection, Rules to Change the World, Philip Venzke playfully traces the boundaries of our favorite childhood games. In clear, inviting lines and short, direct verses, Venzke rediscovers the fun of folly while registering the deep resonance of embodied presence in the world.  These brisk, clever poems can hold readers in relation to primal things—early memories, origins, core feelings.  Venzke channels for us the pleasure and surprising gravity of our games.”

–William Stobb, author of You Are Still Alive.

“Philip Venzke has here a simple yet brilliant concept for a sequence of connected poems using the games we all knew as children to imagine a world newly remade or newly seen. By rewriting the rules for these games with image and metaphor, his verses often lift from the mundane to the cosmic in a single line. I am reminded of the poems “First Lesson” by James Tate and “Exercise” by W. S. Merwin, the former showing a sense of humor not unlike some of these, and the latter uncovering the same sense of mystery buried in seemingly simple rituals. I say “Game on!” to Venzke for producing work worthy of these comparisons.”

–Kurt Luchs, author of Falling in the Direction of Up.