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Cosmographia: A Post-Lucretian Faux Micro-Epic
Butt out, Dante. Move over, Milton. Piss off, Pound. Outta the way, Olson. Here comes Cosmographia � a post-Lucretian faux micro-epic, the latest ground breaking incursion into the ever popular spectacle of the Epic Poem. Tracking the classic epic journey through the unfolding cosmos toward home, though occasionally disoriented by milling cows with similar intent, Cosmographia teems with nasty political invective, scurrilous spiritual slander, and endless exploitive sexual innuendo. Taking as its muses Cab Calloway and Charles Mingus, by the time it gets home, Cosmographia has subjected the epic to unspeakable acts in the name of linguistic rectumtude, dada terrorism, and sporadic ejaculations of self-expression. Oh yeah! � poetry will never be the same.
- GenresPoetry
180 pages, Paperback
First published November 1, 2010
14 people want to read
About the author
Michael Boughn
30 books9 followersBorn and raised in Riverside, California Michael Boughn moved to Canada in October, 1966 to escape the U.S. military draft and to continue organizing against the Viet Nam War. He lived in Vancouver for 7 years. While there he met Robin Blaser who introduced him to the work of William Blake, Charles Olson, H.D., Jack Spicer, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams and other crucial contemporary writers.
In 1971 he left university in order to organize full time. Over the next several years he worked in various jobs, eventually becoming a Teamster in Toronto where he was a freight handler on the lakefront for 7 years. From 1982-89 he pursued graduate studies at SUNY Buffalo, where he studied with John Clarke and Robert Creeley and worked in the Poetry/Rare Book Collection. He completed his PhD, producing the first descriptive bibliography of the poet, H.D., and worked as a writer, typesetter, and publication designer, founding shuffaloff books. In 1993 he returned to Canada where he has lived since, teaching part-time at the University of Toronto, publishing non-fiction for young adults and children, and helping write and produce plays for Toronto’s Clay & Paper Theatre. In 2001 swore allegiance to the Queen and her heirs and became a Canadian citizen. He currently lives in Toronto with his wife, Elizabeth, and their two children, Amelia and Sam.
In 1971 he left university in order to organize full time. Over the next several years he worked in various jobs, eventually becoming a Teamster in Toronto where he was a freight handler on the lakefront for 7 years. From 1982-89 he pursued graduate studies at SUNY Buffalo, where he studied with John Clarke and Robert Creeley and worked in the Poetry/Rare Book Collection. He completed his PhD, producing the first descriptive bibliography of the poet, H.D., and worked as a writer, typesetter, and publication designer, founding shuffaloff books. In 1993 he returned to Canada where he has lived since, teaching part-time at the University of Toronto, publishing non-fiction for young adults and children, and helping write and produce plays for Toronto’s Clay & Paper Theatre. In 2001 swore allegiance to the Queen and her heirs and became a Canadian citizen. He currently lives in Toronto with his wife, Elizabeth, and their two children, Amelia and Sam.
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
November 26, 2011
Another BookThug.ca find. More of the cantos were hits than misses, and the work is remarkably readable for an avant garde poem. I especially liked the fugue-like repetition and the illuminating footnotes that anchor the micro-epic to other works (the poet is clearly very well read). However, like Virgil must part ways with Dante two-thirds of the way through, so the footnotes disappear towards the end of the poem.
June 22, 2011
So delicious
July 10, 2013
A funny and beautiful piece of new Canadian writing that demands reading and rereading.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews