<p><i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">as if there could be no </i></p><p> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">other memory </i></p><p> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal"> </i></p><p> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">a tree invisible </i></p><p> <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">remembering itself </i></p><p> </p><p> In <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">As If</i>, E.D. Blodgett takes readers on journeys of contemplation in which he re-imagines the lyric form. Each line leaves the reader breathless as it runs into the next to form a continuous cycle, a continued breath. The delicate syntax of each piece pushes one forward, ever forward. The poems are Dantesque, leading the traveller through a deeper, darker world. As a collection, <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal">As If</i> constitutes an ars poetica of Blodgett’s Apostrophes series. The poems explore the elements that make up the series—strict metrical patterns, the possibilities of breath, the endlessness and seamlessness of the spoken word, the incantation.</p>