Reading the Bible Backwards

Reverse engineering the word, meme splicing, morpheme replacement therapy, phonetic modifications: these are some of the techniques in play throughout Reading the Bible Backwards, the lyrical thought experiments that make up this eagerly anticipated new collection of poems by Robert Priest. By throwing the Bible and other cultural narratives on the turntable and spinning them backwards, Priest unleashes surprisingly new but strangely familiar music and meaning. Whether the movements are sideways, inverted, or omni-directional, his satire has never been sharper — or darker. Ultimately, though, Priest’s lyric voice has never been more finely tuned or elegant, especially in the wonderfully groundbreaking “I Love You Forwards” poems that afford this book its remarkable balance.