So often we're told that language does not suffice, is somehow inadequate in its attempts to capture the chaos of the modern world. Then, along comes Gerard Sarnat and his barrage of argot - hieratic, demotic, slang, patois and palaver, disparate dialects and dictions elbowing each other out of the way, arguing and embracing, making language seem conspicuously more robust and up to the task. Never does sound take a hiatus, never do tongue and ear cease to labor under the wonderful burden of Sarnat's music. And through it all, a consciousness, a conscience, demanding to be heard, a self wrestling with angels amidst the Babel of modern and ancient cultures.

—Patty Seyburn, Hilarity is her latest collection