Inspired by "the plot genie"--a plot-generating device created in the 1930s that used numerical games of chance to divine character traits and plot points--this imaginative, book-length poem discusses the ways in which people are recreated, inspired, aroused, and persuaded by the power of the stories that they listen to and share. Rich in scene and cinematic quality, the plot--visual and literary, old and new--recombines into a simultaneous present, examining society's endless hunger for narrative. Exploring and blending genres with exciting and lyrical language, references to film and pop culture are laced throughout. Presenting a memorable cast in moving and humorous motifs, this rich composition explores the way the characters behave when inhabiting a construct created by ideas.

GILLIAN CONOLEY was born in 1955 in Austin, Texas, where, on its rural outskirts, her father and mother owned and operated a radio station. She is the author of six collections of poetry, including Profane Halo, Lovers in the Used World, and Tall Stranger, a finalist for the National Book Critics Circle Award. Her work has received many prizes, including the Jerome J. Shestack Poetry Prize from The American Poetry Review, a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and a Fund for Poetry Award. She lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, novelist Domenic Stansberry, and their daughter, Gillis. Poet-in-Residence at Sonoma State University, she edits VOLT.