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Mountain/West Poetry Series
Furthest Ecology
Furthest Ecology takes up the life and labor of Abbott Thayer, the prickly, irrepressible American painter and naturalist nicknamed "the father of camouflage." In 1896, Thayer discovered countershading, also known as "Thayer's Law," the theory of animal coloration often credited for laying the groundwork for military camouflage in World War I. Fagin's poetry follows Thayer through "pure leafy space" ringing with "hypertelic / rhythms of a redpoll," examining in lush, panoramic detail "the clairvoyance of the artist's attention." But this idyllic portrait unravels as Thayer's story proceeds. Grieving the death of his first wife and, later, cutting a frenzied path through wartime Europe, Thayer encounters darker forces, within and without. With spare beauty and sharp-edged syntax, Fagin conjures the painter's Loss, despair, obsession, ecstasy, and the aesthetic sublime. Furthest Ecology is a vivid and powerful debut that will haunt readers with its singular vision of artistic pursuit.
- GenresPoetry
80 pages, Paperback
Published March 8, 2019
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 17, 2021
The experience of this book is just as beautiful as you would expect with that cover.
March 5, 2019
Beautiful. For me this book is all about navigating the distance between us and the world—not trying to erase or elide it but making it into a space where we can reside. Favorite line, and the one that encapsulated it all for me: "Perspective is divine malfunction." A malfunction of divinity? Or a malfunction that is divine? Both, neither, but for me I think it's the second one.
October 24, 2022
A strange and beautiful little book. It's part a little history lesson, part poetic exploration of said history. Very fragmented and sparse; I did find myself more drawn to the prose sections than the poetry but I think that's because I was unfamiliar with the story of the person who invented camoflage and found that information quite interesting!
July 11, 2022
Favorite poem: Transparent Protests
August 15, 2023
A fascinating experience of design and writing, with poems sprawling all over the page.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews