Publisher's Synopsis
X, Before and After collects all of the poems from the first five issues of Pattern Recognition, the arts and literary magazine that focusses on the creative, alternative side of Generation X and its 'fellow travellers' from the Baby Boom and Generation Y. Steeped in nostalgia, anger and irony, these poems reflect the disconnect, drugs, pop culture and familial dysfunction that have shaped notable segments of the West's population in the post-Vietnam era. Featured here are the verses of Joe Bishop, Scott Laudati, D. S. Maolalai, Michele McDannold, Jon Riccio, Anthony Robinson, Jessica Tremblay, R. W. Watkins, Catherine Zickgraf, and several other representative poets who know what it means to haunt record and comic-book stores, compose erotic haikus, and scrounge through sofa cushions for change to purchase that last six-pack of beer.