Risk a Verse

What kind of person decides to write a sonnet every day for a year? Someone with too much time on hand? In Libby Weber's case, it was someone with too little free time who nonetheless wanted to create something new every day. She expected to get pretty good at writing sonnets. She didn't expect that the project would be the excuse she needed to throw herself into every interesting opportunity that came her way. The result of her year-long literary experiment is a collection full of scintillating wordplay and keen observations, ranging from tales of audition mishaps to delightful nonsense, with reflections on nature, death, art, love, and occasionally television. Risk a Verse comprises Weber's complete sonnet output from her year of poetry, together with detailed annotations to clarify the remarkable array of subjects, works, and people referenced therein. Sonnets remain a popular way to express powerful feelings and reflect on the world, even as they are also used to humorously elevate less rarefied subjects. Weber manages to do all of this, many times over, within the space of fourteen lines. Rarely has such an impressive feat been this much fun.