There comes a time in every student's life when he or she is subjected to the tortures of learning about poetry in English class.
This is not to say that poetry itself is evil, but the prospect of reducing it to its bare essentials and taking everything meaningful out of it is disgusting.
And to do it year after year to the same poems that have come to be regarded as classics tends to dull the meaning of some wonderful work.
While it is obviously deemed necessary for students to be taught how to dissect poems as though they are nothing more than formaldehyde-laden frogs, why not change it up a bit?
Might I suggest "Now We Are Sick," a self-described "anthology of nasty verse."
This is a small book, just more than 100 pages that collects poetry, demented as it may be, from 30 of the world's top science fiction, fantasy and horror authors.
Things are guaranteed to be good from the start when one of the two editors of the book, and author of the first, titular poem, is none other than fantasy great Neil Gaiman.
Other noteworthy contributions to this book include the work of Terry Pratchett and Alan Moore and illustrations by the maestro of macabre, Clive Barker (who, according to the dedication page, is to blame for this book being made).
The collection is broken into sections of poems with common themes. The sections are: Nasty Habits, In Loving Memory, Less Welcome Tenants, Night Fears and Adults Only (it's nothing too risque, but the three poem topics in this section range from cocaine use to human sacrifice).
If the cover--which includes a bear eating a boy, a girl eating a stuffed pig, a man on television being shot through the head, and a monster crawling from a casket--are all not enough to say that this is not a poetry book for children, a poem on the back reads:
"If for children you mistook/ The rhymes and poems in this book/ We must at once apologize/ And open up your blinkered eyes./ Please do not feel sad or lonely/ When we warn: For adults only."
For fans of horror who would like a little variety in their reading, "Now We Are Sick," is a delightful read.
For anyone else, it may send you into shock or have you preaching Armageddon.
RYAN BROSMER is a senior