The poems in this collection explore how narratives of cataclysm, past and future, tap into “catastrophilia,” a term the poet coined to describe a love for, or fascination with apocalyptic catastrophe. Is this a kind of self-destructive madness, or are there spiritual or metaphysical insights to be discovered there? Inspired by mythology, archaeology, and esoteric literature, these poems give voice to mystics, heretics, alchemists and gods, figures both mythical and historical, from Hermes to Anubis, Plato to Carl Jung, to Paracelsus, Giordano Bruno and John Dee. They employ the magical philosophies of the Renaissance, pondering the cyclical nature of time, the creative hinge of memory and imagination. They are replete with weird creatures and shape-shifters, trance mediums and ghosts who share hidden wisdom.
