"Eunoia" ~ Christian Bök

‘Eunoia’ is the shortest word in the English language to contain all five vowels. The word means ‘beautiful thinking’ and that is what poet Christian Bök does in his collection of avant-garde poetry, Eunoia. The book is a hundred-page collection of block style poetry (with a few exceptions) that follows a specific theme; that theme is vowels. This book of poetry contains five chapters, each named after a vowel (A, E, I, O, and U), within each chapter, only words containing the designated vowel appear (including various onomatopoeia). This parameter creates a wonderful assonance in each chapter, which sometimes builds urgency within the text and sometimes (as in the case of ‘U’) slows the reader to a simplistic plod. But do not let my use of ‘simplistic plod’ deter you; I use the phrase in a most complimentary manner. After all, ‘U’ is not a letter that is easily strung out at a fast pace. Bök’s chapter U is graphically shocking (think of the words possible with the letter ‘u’) but still an integral part of Eunoia.
Each vowel chapter tells a story in a series of poems. Each poem within a chapter has the same number of lines as the others within that chapter and the content of each chapter must conform to a set of rules, which when combined with the word constraints, makes the writing even more impressive. The only aspect that may serve to trip up a modern American reader is the smattering of French throughout the first five chapters. Bök utilizes French words and phrases in some of his poems, which work beautifully within the context of the poem and the rules but to those of us who have not been held to a very rigorous foreign language standard, could be problematic. Fortunately, most of the vocabulary is simple enough (or even defined for you) that it is possible to understand.
At the conclusion of chapter U, the reader will find a section entitled, “Oiseau.” ‘Oiseau’ happens to be the shortest French word to utilize all five vowels; the word means ‘bird’ for those who are took a language other than French in high school. This section continues to be a tribute to beautiful fecundity of language but is different stylistically from the first portion of the book. An example: the very first poem looks to be more ‘traditional,’ it is four line stanzas with only a few words to a line. That is where all sense of tradition ends. The poem only consists only of consonants and can be read silently but may be much better appreciated when read aloud with dramatic intent. Of course, the same can be said of all the poems in Eunoia. Each poem may be read silently but to completely appreciate the lyricism inherent in the text, one must read them aloud. Whispering works if you do not want to disturb your neighbor.
Eunoia may sound best when read aloud but before you share with your friends, be sure to practice. The poems are a series complex tongue twisters that have been beautifully thought out and encourage response; whether confused or awed is up to the reader.


P.S.
I almost considered this cheating since we have read two of the chapters for class and excerpts were read to us by Bök himself, however there is no stipulation in the guidelines stating this book is taboo. So, I maintain that this is almost cheating. But still a book worth reading in its entirety.