[Reviewed by Kyrsten Bean]
David Perez speaks on a wide range of prescient topics in his poetry collection aptly titled Love in a Time of Robot Apocalypse. No subject is immune to being encapsulated in a poetic plea, observation or rumination. Poems titled, “Contraband,” “Watching Fallen Bridges,” To the Lady Who Carves a Notch in Her M-16 for Every Robot She Leaves Charred and Perforated in the Ruins of Los Angeles,” and “To My Zombie Killing Ex-Boyfriend: A Break-up Letter,” piqued my interest immediately. The poems in this book are edgy, fresh and contemporary.
Perez eloquently mixes black humor, vivid imagery and existential crises inside stories with their own inside stories. Particularly poignant is “Deep Blue,” a complex poem about a competition between World Champion Grandmaster Garry Kasparov and a computer by the name of Deep Blue. “You may want to pray/to the malfunctioning synapse/that makes you believe in a God/that I never develop a taste/for self-preservation,” says the computer as he outwits Kasparov. The poem delineates each chess move as robot and human perform a dance where machine battles human nature.
Kyrsten Bean is a Staff Writer for Synchronized Chaos. She may be reached at kyrstenb@gmail.com.