Description:

Many of the poems in this anthology have already appeared in well-known literary magazines. Surreal, bitter and comic, they range from Paul Newman's first book 'In Many Ways Frogs' to his most recent 'The Ass's Shadow'. They vary in content from fungal scrutinies like 'Ogre Observing Mushrooms' to investigative audacities like 'Who Killed the Lightning?' Philosophical reflections such as 'Eternal Recurrence' stand beside curious dilemmas that challenge the imagination. 'Indecision', for instance, depicts a man uncertainly poised between acquiring a giant lobster or a bicycle while 'Orpheus Ascending' transplants the musician to a contemporary urban setting. Some of these poems do not reflect reality so much as the hallucinations provoked by the phenomenal world. The collection is supplemented by three short stories: 'Forever Falling', 'The Bleeding King' and finally 'Sanctorum', an account of a sinisterly potent medieval perfume and how it interfered with the life of a university lecturer.