Publisher's Synopsis
FROM THE INTRODUCTION: Nathan Coppedge, previously the author of such collections of marvelous poetry as The Old Incantations: Sorcery in the Dark, and Poems by God, here describes an extended series of methods which ought to be of utility to the ambitious young poet. Someone with a little lightning, and a little philosophy in their blood. Someone who has eeked after the most fabulous things. And, whether flummoxed or not, has fastened him or herself upon the narrow or not so narrow techniques of modern poetry and rhyme.
Here, unlike almost anywhere else, the mind feels free to roam onto new fields of epiphany, and draw straws about the nature of reality... In Nathan's view, poets should afford philosophy, yet not when it mandates an end to the infinite, sometimes bitter imagination which modern existence affords. This is a journey into the dimensions of poetry... Poets should learn not only from example, but from methods, styles, and observations on beauty. This is in keeping with the classical tradition, but it is also accommodating of modern styles, and in particular, modern conditions of nature and urbania. Embracing urbania is, in my view, embracing Zen. Zen anticipated the coming age of civilizations. But that is not the only mentality. New mentalities will spring up with equal importance to Zen. Zen is to the future of urban and outer-space poetry what Cubism was for the development of abstract art. With that mentality in mind, I will write a few words on my first experiences with professional poetry.
