In
Among the Gliesians
, Philip Fried continues experimenting with different registers of language, technical jargon, and a variety of literary and non-literary forms, ranging from sonnet, ballad, acrostic, and villanelle to press release and report. His witty and compassionate work takes on a new urgency, however, as he focuses on our alarming present situation. Dealing with such topical themes as mass shootings, nuclear gamesmanship, and threats to democracy, Fried’s poems reveal a struggle for meaningful expression when meaning itself is under attack. In the section giving its title to the book, reports on an extraterrestrial society hold up a mirror to our own culture.