Simon Pole

The story is as old as man. Older, if you believe it came first, and us afterwards. And oldest of all story's incarnate tongues is poetry. From days when the nomad paid his poet in cattle, to our current electric era and its global reach, poetry has always held the story, and the story holds us. What then is the man in story? Since the time of Adam, he has been the monster, that which is alienated, that which does not fit. The vampire, the scientist's deformed creation, the killer, the cannibal, the dog-man, the corpse of funerals' past: all capture some facet of ourselves outside time, and place, and self. Such is the inheritance of grotesque creatures handed down to us through all folklore and fiction, culminating in Cosmic Poet Simon Pole's authoritative collection of narrative verse. Twenty-four poems-as-stories dissecting the monsters in man, and the monsters which live outside us. Twenty-four tales spun in traditional metre and rhyme, for their horrors are as old as the hills, as young as the new bride of spring. Twenty-four tales confronting the legacy of damnation we share, and our own incapacity to fix it. Story is the medicine, and poetry the strongest antidote of all. For this is where we explore, recount and cope. This is where we rise above, to the supernatural, that which is above our nature, the nature of the monster. This is the greatest story of all, and there we find our home. Bio His mind corrupted by childhood exposure to horror movie matinees, but equally enthralled by the atmosphere of old churches, Simon Pole writes cosmic poetry from the location of Kingsville, Ontario. A graduate of Harvard University, Simon has continued his studies of what is hidden in the dark. Writing is also in his blood, being the great-great-grandson of early Canadian poet Susie Drury.

The world is re-enchanted. The sacred returns. And so does ex-angel Robert Hunger to the west coast streets of Terminal City. There to witness the great sorting mix of atheism, evolution, the Christian supernatural, European paganism and indigenous culture at the end of our epoch. Who will triumph? Who will falter? Or will a new synthesis prevail as one age turns to another... The literary perspective disappears. The novel declines. Only the epic is left standing to bear our culture, and tell the total stories all crave and require. Only the epic can hold the universal whole. And in The Saga of Terminal City, you will find seven-seven complete epics collected here for the first time, along with all supporting indexes and appendices. A truly uncompromising collection to challenge our return to printless barbarity... Pray for the city, so that it might go well for you. Such is the wisdom of exiles. This Saga is that prayer, and those exiles are Robert Hunger and his Poor Shepherds, tirelessly toiling to hasten what will be. There among the misfits and the monsters, the rulers and the ruled, the angels and their adversaries, the created and creationless, they prepare for that day when to Terminal City all of us at last come home. Like the new Jerusalem, in it we are reborn. Bio His mind corrupted by childhood exposure to horror movie matinees, but equally enthralled by the atmosphere of old churches, Simon Pole writes cosmic poetry from the location of Kingsville, Ontario. A graduate of Harvard University, Simon has continued his studies of what is hidden in the dark. Writing is also in his blood, being the great-great-grandson of early Canadian poet Susie Drury.

Reaching higher than the Tower of Babel, shining brighter than the Golden Calf, such is the idol of the future man will raise to worship. A rocketship of immense size and power, the culmination of the best efforts earth has to offer. By compulsion or chicanery, all have been forced to build it. And all will be changed by the Apocalypse its fiery crash from orbit ushers in... In the Wasteland, where ignorant armies continue to fight, a small community is spared, eking out a meagre existence amidst the peril and threat. Always on the edge of disaster, they persevere in hope, with skills honed in the old world. After all, had not terrifying angels, visiting out of the dust, promised all would soon change again in the blink of eye? But, the young cannot wait, and a daughter of the tribe takes matters into her own hands... The journey of man is the journey of earth, for all was made for us, and for us to destroy. And it is not just some men, but all who must choose, what is to be their highest value, the Ultimate. Will it be the rocket, in orbit high above, or what all men can share in equally: the love which uplifts every hand, every heart, and every soul it touches. Man's enemy might tempt us to lies and idols, but in the end we learn he who endures will be saved. Bio His mind corrupted by childhood exposure to horror movie matinees, but equally enthralled by the atmosphere of old churches, Simon Pole writes cosmic poetry from the location of Kingsville, Ontario. A graduate of Harvard University, Simon has continued his studies of what is hidden in the dark. Writing is also in his blood, being the great-great-grandson of early Canadian poet Susie Drury.

Is the speech of angels poetry? Some have called it so. For others, it is the first thing God created, in the form of Wisdom. Whatever poetry might be, it is a means through which we praise and contemplate our Creator. These are the principles embodied in Like a Lamb, cosmic poet Simon Pole's latest collection of sacred poetry. From the most extreme events of a lifetime to the small moments of everyday life, the poems of Like a Lamb explore how our lives relate to God, and how we are to live in God's world. We hear the voices of kings, the hopes of the most ordinary person, the protest of the criminal, the anguish of the lost: all the possible situations of man. From the Roman past, to the biblical record, to the vast universe of stars and beyond, we will follow the working out of salvation in all ages and in all places. The destination is the Kingdom of God, which is, but not yet. Like a Lamb invites you to wait until that day, in rhythm and rhyme, when in the clouds comes the Son of Man. This is the 2nd edition of Like a Lamb, including the chapbook Christ the King, and other new poems. Bio His mind corrupted by childhood exposure to horror movie matinees, but equally enthralled by the atmosphere of old churches, Simon Pole writes cosmic poetry from the location of Kingsville, Ontario. A graduate of Harvard University, Simon has continued his studies of what is hidden in the dark. Writing is also in his blood, being the great-great-grandson of early Canadian poet Susie Drury.

The Ocean is chaos, but it is also the regularity of wave and tide. The Ocean is the mirror of the sky, reflecting what is not itself, but also the container of unplumbed depths and myriads uncounted: a world onto itself... The Ocean is the meeting point of peoples, and their divider. Across its face extends trade and travel; a face that, when angry, destroys the very same. The Ocean is a match for the mind of man, and his probe into what is known and unknown... Poems For Ocean is cosmic poet Simon Pole's only collection of lyric poetry. In it you will find, in rhythm and rhyme, creations to challenge the totality of Ocean. Its people are barbers, soldiers, tramps, kings, drunks, wizards, witches, and all the types that throng the shores of man's weird existence. Their situation is both everyday and extraordinary, from the streets to space and back again. And their condition-our condition-is best told in poetry that is musical and metrical like the profound soundings of Ocean itself... Poems For Ocean: poetry for hearing the roar of this world, while catching echoes of what waits in the next... Poems For Ocean: the journey to our final port's call will find its chronicle within. This is the 2nd edition, including the chapbook of new poems Dolphin's Lair. Bio His mind corrupted by childhood exposure to horror movie matinees, but equally enthralled by the atmosphere of old churches, Simon Pole writes cosmic poetry from the location of Kingsville, Ontario. A graduate of Harvard University, Simon has continued his studies of what is hidden in the dark. Writing is also in his blood, being the great-great-grandson of early Canadian poet Susie Drury.