Most Wanted: A Gamble in Verse

During the spring and summer of 2004, Jeff Encke wrote, designed, and printed a book of poetry on a deck of stylized, casino-quality playing cards, two of which appear here. The project is so cool - and the cards so beautiful! - that we had to tell you about it. You can preview the deck for sale here and follow the link to the homepage to read more about the project.

Bart Eeckhout, author of Wallace Stevens and the Limits of Reading and Writing, comments “Most Wanted plays an inspired, surprising set of riffs on the bromide 'Make Love, Not War.' Jeff Encke dares us to see the war of the human heart as darker and more disjointed than the war of nations, the love of war as simpler and safer than the love of people, and the power of words as more intricate and uncertain than any military policy. The changing script of love that emerges every time his pack of elliptic fragments is shuffled and a new game of poetic poker is played helps to restore human individuality, vulnerability, and contingency to a world in which we can never wish to imprison whatever it is we most want.”

Buy a deck before they’ve disappeared forever! The discount price is $5.