The poet Christopher Fried says his work reflects the viewpoint of someone who is a part of “the last analog generation.”

“There are various experiences, such as mall culture, arcades and video stores that I wanted to memorialize,” he says. “But not just through rose-tinted wistfulness.”

Fried’s second book of poetry, “Analog Synthesis,” is part-nostalgia, part-pop culture critique. It features verse from the worldview of a keen retro futurist who also loves old-school formalist poetry. “I didn’t really have the internet until maybe I was, you know, 13 or 14,” he says. “I felt this collection of poems could be a kind of tribute to our generation … the ‘synthesis’ refers both to [the] returning popularity of the synthesizer, as well as all the pop and high culture elements that formed the late Generation X/early millennial generation.”

As a poet, Fried, 40, writes in a variety of traditional forms, from blank verse to sonnets to hymns, and freely admits the influence “in terms of technique and mood” of masters such as John Crowe Ransom, Allen Tate and Robert Penn Warren. But the old masters never wrote poems about synthesizers or androids or the implications of “Back to the Future.”

For example, take the author’s “Back to Reality After Space-Time Conundrums,” one of the highlights among the 57 poems found in “Analog Synthesis”:

Published in April by Kelsay Books, “Analog Synthesis” is a varied assortment of poems that takes in everything from the poet’s favorite futuristic movies to the roots of synthwave music to historical figures important to him, such as late authors Martin Amis and Cormac McCarthy. Much of the work was inspired by his time as an advisor to a documentary on sci-fi cinema, “In Search of Tomorrow.”

“A lot of the more science fiction-based poems kind of came from that experience,” he says. But sci-fi, strangely enough, also means home and security to Fried, who was adopted. “My love for that was probably my parents’ influence,” he says. “I would generally see whatever my parents were watching … I can recall from my early age watching ‘Star Wars’ on VHS and ‘The Abyss,’ even ‘Star Trek: The Next Generation,’ which was a favorite TV series of theirs.”

“Analog Synthesis” is divided into two sections, ‘Retro Speculative’ and ‘Iconoclasts.’

“The second section focuses on figures that I’ve either found fascinating or have been an important influence for me,” he says. “Many of these individuals went against certain currents of their time. As a writer of primarily formal or traditional poetry in a world that has been dominated by free verse for multiple generations, I find their example encouraging.”

A James City County native who graduated from William & Mary with dual degrees in English and Classical studies, Fried (pronounced “Freed”) published his first novel in 2021, “Whole Lot of Hullabaloo: A Twenty-First Century Campus Phantasmagoria.” His first book of poetry, “All Aboard the Timesphere” was published in 2014, also by Kelsay Books. “There were some contemporary themes in that collection as well,” he says. Over the years, his work has appeared in The Federalist, The Lyric, The Society of Classical Poets and other publications.

Fried started writing when he was in elementary school. In the ninth grade, he self-published a novella called “The Clubhouse” that got him notice, including a feature profile in the local paper, “The Virginia Gazette.” “My parents always had books around the house, so I always had an interest in expressing myself through words.” When he’s not writing poems, Fried can be found contributing a regular column to the website New Retro Wave, reviewing his favorite sci-fi films and the occasional book. (https://newretrowave.com/author/christopher/)

Judging by the poet’s day job, you’d think his work would be filled with aquatic themes. Fried works as a logistics analyst for Ocean Network Express, a major ocean shipping line company whose North American headquarters are in Richmond.

“It seemed like an interesting opportunity, and I always like a challenge,” he says of his analyst job, adding he doesn’t get any particular poetic inspiration from his work managing accounts and keeping abreast of shipping routes. “I have both a logical and a creative side of my mind. I think a lot of writers have that as well. T.S. Eliot was a banker and Wallace Stevens was a lawyer for an insurance company, and they also wrote poetry. Some people are able to just [navigate] the different aspects of their personality.”

For more info on Christopher Fried, go to https://christopherfried.com. “Analog Synthesis is available through Amazon.com or at https://kelsaybooks.com/products/analog-synthesis

Fried will be one of four featured poets to read as part of a special Kelsay Books Zoom live event on July 19 at 2 p.m. EST. The online reading is free but viewers should register in advance at https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/lPErGZNnRfKCs6j2GVQKcA#/.

More info on the live event is at https://kelsaybooks.com/pages/live-reading-events