THIS IS MY 1000th post, I believe. So I am pleased to be writing about an excellent book by one of my favorite living poets, Mathias Svalina.
The anodyne title of America at Play is perfectly chosen, given how unnerving, sometimes terrifying the book is. It's a handbook with instructions for playing several dozen invented games for children--not the old familiar ones, like "Red Rover, Red Rover" or "Freeze Tag," but "Everything Costs $20," "Bury the Shards of the Broken Light Bulb Where No One Will Ever Find Them," and "Massacre."
The strength of the book lies, first, in its insight into the American assumption that even even childhood fun should be put to good purpose by incorporating valuable life lessons; second, in its insight into what life lessons would best prepare a child for its eventual entry into the devouring maw of capital.
Take "Cat and Rat." Two children are chosen for the titular roles, and the rest form a circle, doing everything they can to help the Rat and frustrate the Cat. "When the Cat catches the Rat it makes the children angry. No child likes the Cat. But one child must be the Cat." A lesson best learned early!
That, from p. 15, is dark enough, but eventually get to the "War Games," such as "World War," "for 6,600,000,000 players or more," in which "every child is at war with every other child."
Kudos to Trident Press of Boulder, Colorado, for bringing this out.
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