SCREENS, poetry by Henry Crawford
Publication Date: July 15, 2025
Paperback, 78 pages
ISBN: 978-1-966677-10-9
Screens are ubiquitous in this technological moment, the word itself simultaneously conjuring connection and concealment, knowledge and obfuscation, communication and distortion, and in these new poems from Henry Crawford screens serve as metaphor for the dislocations of contemporary living. “How is life any more real than our dreams?” he asks, answering in verse often surreal, sentence and syntax and punctuation fractured and fragmented nearly to the point of incomprehension, suggesting the limitations of language itself to contain and convey meaning any longer. In “Afterwards” he imagines the erasure of everything, until finally the burnt coffee of a roadside diner is left “just the black no longer hot / holding all the secrets.” This is a witty, wily, and wise collection of secrets, equal parts challenging and delightful, in which Crawford bid us go “With confidence. Into the future. / Use your head. It’s what we do best. / But don’t say. I didn’t warn you.”
Praise for Henry Crawford & Screens
Henry Crawford’s work is the definition of “passionate virtuosity,” a term the late novelist John Barth coined for what he most wants from writing. Take Crawford’s poem “The Clown Car Memorandum” where he uses his patented “bracket” style to turn a scenario of clowns squeezing into a car to reflect the world economy at its worst. This kind of virtuosity is added by depth of feeling, such as the poem “Jersey City” where he conveys a sense of loss just by showing a woman working alone at the Go-Go Mart. Crawford’s incredible range extends from economics to law to history, basically a hundred subjects that gives his work authority. I am so excited to see this book out in the world. Almost anything you could want in a poetry collection is found here.
—Donald Illich, author of Chance Bodies
What does it mean to be human in this age when technology inundates us until we imagine we are drowning? How do we hold on to that humanity? Henry Crawford reminds of the infinite grace to be found in the details of living — a mother’s eyes “sweeter than strawberries”; “a summer window partially opened” — even the loneliness of a house “with coffee to be made and nobody home”, or the pain of a prize fight, or a lost love. Humanity is all of that, and each page of Crawford’s Screens contains such gems, images that startle the reader toward awakening. Crawford asks “How is life any more real than our dreams?” and leaves it to the reader to find the answer on their own. And that is how it should be.
—W. Luther Jett, author of Flying to America & The Colour War
With humor, passion, a quizzical mind, and original punctuation, Henry Crawford guides us through a technocratic world that was the future, but seems to be now. This is poetry as serious play. In lyrics that surprise, challenge, and delight, Screens manages to catch the Zeitgeist while doing what poetry has always done best—record the awareness of an individual mind moving with amazement through its moment of time.
—Jean Nordhaus, author of The Music of Being
What a delight to read Screens, Henry Crawford’s rollicking dive into contemporary existence mediated through screens and marks, slogans and Chat GPT. These poems dare to ask if “the things words mean [are] leaving”; they’re brave enough to note that we’re all in the process of dying even as life springs up, delicious and improbable. These often propulsive poems expand time and space, taking the reader before and now and after, from sky to the center of the earth. In the hands of this writer’s keen intelligence, incisive humor, and deep tenderness, daily life is burnished.
—Katherine Williams, author of Still Life
About the Author
Henry Crawford is the author of two previous collections of poetry, American Software (CW Books, 2017), and The Binary Planet (The Word Works, 2020). His poem “The Fruits of Famine” won first prize in the 2019 World Food Poetry Competition. His poem “As We Were Saying Goodnight” was nominated for the 2022 Rhysling Award given out by the Science Fiction Poetry Association. He is a co-director of the Café Muse literary salon.
Publication Date: July 15, 2025
Paperback, 78 pages
ISBN: 978-1-966677-10-9
Screens are ubiquitous in this technological moment, the word itself simultaneously conjuring connection and concealment, knowledge and obfuscation, communication and distortion, and in these new poems from Henry Crawford screens serve as metaphor for the dislocations of contemporary living. “How is life any more real than our dreams?” he asks, answering in verse often surreal, sentence and syntax and punctuation fractured and fragmented nearly to the point of incomprehension, suggesting the limitations of language itself to contain and convey meaning any longer. In “Afterwards” he imagines the erasure of everything, until finally the burnt coffee of a roadside diner is left “just the black no longer hot / holding all the secrets.” This is a witty, wily, and wise collection of secrets, equal parts challenging and delightful, in which Crawford bid us go “With confidence. Into the future. / Use your head. It’s what we do best. / But don’t say. I didn’t warn you.”
Praise for Henry Crawford & Screens
Henry Crawford’s work is the definition of “passionate virtuosity,” a term the late novelist John Barth coined for what he most wants from writing. Take Crawford’s poem “The Clown Car Memorandum” where he uses his patented “bracket” style to turn a scenario of clowns squeezing into a car to reflect the world economy at its worst. This kind of virtuosity is added by depth of feeling, such as the poem “Jersey City” where he conveys a sense of loss just by showing a woman working alone at the Go-Go Mart. Crawford’s incredible range extends from economics to law to history, basically a hundred subjects that gives his work authority. I am so excited to see this book out in the world. Almost anything you could want in a poetry collection is found here.
—Donald Illich, author of Chance Bodies
What does it mean to be human in this age when technology inundates us until we imagine we are drowning? How do we hold on to that humanity? Henry Crawford reminds of the infinite grace to be found in the details of living — a mother’s eyes “sweeter than strawberries”; “a summer window partially opened” — even the loneliness of a house “with coffee to be made and nobody home”, or the pain of a prize fight, or a lost love. Humanity is all of that, and each page of Crawford’s Screens contains such gems, images that startle the reader toward awakening. Crawford asks “How is life any more real than our dreams?” and leaves it to the reader to find the answer on their own. And that is how it should be.
—W. Luther Jett, author of Flying to America & The Colour War
With humor, passion, a quizzical mind, and original punctuation, Henry Crawford guides us through a technocratic world that was the future, but seems to be now. This is poetry as serious play. In lyrics that surprise, challenge, and delight, Screens manages to catch the Zeitgeist while doing what poetry has always done best—record the awareness of an individual mind moving with amazement through its moment of time.
—Jean Nordhaus, author of The Music of Being
What a delight to read Screens, Henry Crawford’s rollicking dive into contemporary existence mediated through screens and marks, slogans and Chat GPT. These poems dare to ask if “the things words mean [are] leaving”; they’re brave enough to note that we’re all in the process of dying even as life springs up, delicious and improbable. These often propulsive poems expand time and space, taking the reader before and now and after, from sky to the center of the earth. In the hands of this writer’s keen intelligence, incisive humor, and deep tenderness, daily life is burnished.
—Katherine Williams, author of Still Life
About the Author
Henry Crawford is the author of two previous collections of poetry, American Software (CW Books, 2017), and The Binary Planet (The Word Works, 2020). His poem “The Fruits of Famine” won first prize in the 2019 World Food Poetry Competition. His poem “As We Were Saying Goodnight” was nominated for the 2022 Rhysling Award given out by the Science Fiction Poetry Association. He is a co-director of the Café Muse literary salon.
Publication Date: July 15, 2025
Paperback, 78 pages
ISBN: 978-1-966677-10-9
Screens are ubiquitous in this technological moment, the word itself simultaneously conjuring connection and concealment, knowledge and obfuscation, communication and distortion, and in these new poems from Henry Crawford screens serve as metaphor for the dislocations of contemporary living. “How is life any more real than our dreams?” he asks, answering in verse often surreal, sentence and syntax and punctuation fractured and fragmented nearly to the point of incomprehension, suggesting the limitations of language itself to contain and convey meaning any longer. In “Afterwards” he imagines the erasure of everything, until finally the burnt coffee of a roadside diner is left “just the black no longer hot / holding all the secrets.” This is a witty, wily, and wise collection of secrets, equal parts challenging and delightful, in which Crawford bid us go “With confidence. Into the future. / Use your head. It’s what we do best. / But don’t say. I didn’t warn you.”
Praise for Henry Crawford & Screens
Henry Crawford’s work is the definition of “passionate virtuosity,” a term the late novelist John Barth coined for what he most wants from writing. Take Crawford’s poem “The Clown Car Memorandum” where he uses his patented “bracket” style to turn a scenario of clowns squeezing into a car to reflect the world economy at its worst. This kind of virtuosity is added by depth of feeling, such as the poem “Jersey City” where he conveys a sense of loss just by showing a woman working alone at the Go-Go Mart. Crawford’s incredible range extends from economics to law to history, basically a hundred subjects that gives his work authority. I am so excited to see this book out in the world. Almost anything you could want in a poetry collection is found here.
—Donald Illich, author of Chance Bodies
What does it mean to be human in this age when technology inundates us until we imagine we are drowning? How do we hold on to that humanity? Henry Crawford reminds of the infinite grace to be found in the details of living — a mother’s eyes “sweeter than strawberries”; “a summer window partially opened” — even the loneliness of a house “with coffee to be made and nobody home”, or the pain of a prize fight, or a lost love. Humanity is all of that, and each page of Crawford’s Screens contains such gems, images that startle the reader toward awakening. Crawford asks “How is life any more real than our dreams?” and leaves it to the reader to find the answer on their own. And that is how it should be.
—W. Luther Jett, author of Flying to America & The Colour War
With humor, passion, a quizzical mind, and original punctuation, Henry Crawford guides us through a technocratic world that was the future, but seems to be now. This is poetry as serious play. In lyrics that surprise, challenge, and delight, Screens manages to catch the Zeitgeist while doing what poetry has always done best—record the awareness of an individual mind moving with amazement through its moment of time.
—Jean Nordhaus, author of The Music of Being
What a delight to read Screens, Henry Crawford’s rollicking dive into contemporary existence mediated through screens and marks, slogans and Chat GPT. These poems dare to ask if “the things words mean [are] leaving”; they’re brave enough to note that we’re all in the process of dying even as life springs up, delicious and improbable. These often propulsive poems expand time and space, taking the reader before and now and after, from sky to the center of the earth. In the hands of this writer’s keen intelligence, incisive humor, and deep tenderness, daily life is burnished.
—Katherine Williams, author of Still Life
About the Author
Henry Crawford is the author of two previous collections of poetry, American Software (CW Books, 2017), and The Binary Planet (The Word Works, 2020). His poem “The Fruits of Famine” won first prize in the 2019 World Food Poetry Competition. His poem “As We Were Saying Goodnight” was nominated for the 2022 Rhysling Award given out by the Science Fiction Poetry Association. He is a co-director of the Café Muse literary salon.