One crucial throughline: Saturnalia, ancient gods, and the connection of the human, the divine, and Nature itself. Fitting those interests, the verse echoes back to Coleridge and Poe, in form and language, though Lind balances some proudly archaic language (“As wandered thou ’mong silver’d trees”) with the directly stated, especially in later works. “And yet the moment when I succumbed / To the anaesthesia of life / Eludes me,” Lind writes in the standout “The Constant Watch,” a consideration of the diminishment, over decades, of the intensity with which one feels.
Death, of course, has an erotic charge in these rich, rewarding poems, as do the acts of creation that led to this world. That powers the keystone work “Priapus,” a declarative piece in the voice of “Pan” or God or whatever name one might choose—in one of many illuminating notes, Lind calls it “the expression of the ‘Primal Will to Be.’” The notes and essays are clear-eyed yet surprising, warm yet provocative, setting down an independent mind’s understanding of Nature, poetry, witchcraft, Paganism, and the soul itself.
Takeaway: Evocative poems, inspired by the Romantics, of ancient gods, haunted lands, and the erotic charge of death.
Great for fans of: Donald Wandrei, Kathryn Hinds.
Production grades
Cover: A-
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
