Lusions

by James Ragan

In Lusions, the internationally acclaimed poet James Ragan casts his eye on modern and ancient history in poems that put an original spin on the progression of the world. These are lyrical and witty poems about change and cultural evolution from an intellectual and insightful mind. Ragan explores humankind's cultural and mythical identities - from Prehistory, in which he muses on the "Birth of God (from an Early Photograph)" and "The Pebble Culture," when our distant ancestors turned "violence into culture," to the New World, where he covers such topics as Tuzla, the inner city, and the construction of a city mall. Once he catches up to the Premillennium, Ragan's poems are overwhelmed by a return to nature, perhaps the only antidote to our electronic age. Through brilliant wordplay and striking images, Lusions invents a mysterious and imaginative discourse on the point where the past and the present meet and the impact they have on a fragmented culture.

Genres: Poetry

85 pages, Hardcover

First published March 18, 1997

About the author

Author of 7 books and translated into 10 languages, James Ragan is a Czechoslovak-American poet who has read at Carnegie Hall and the United Nations and for 6 heads of state -- including Czech President Vaclav Klaus, S. Korean Prime Minister Young-Hoon Kang, and Mikhail Gorbachev at Moscow's International Poetry Festival (with Robert Bly and Bob Dylan). His poetry has been called "arresting and distinctive" (Richard Wilbur), "Fine-grained and witty," (C.K.Williams), and "dominating--with insight that marks major poets" (Miroslav Holub). His plays "The Landlord" and "Commedia" have been produced in Beijing, Moscow, Athens, etc. Ragan has worked as a screenwriter at Paramount Pictures for Producer Al Ruddy and in production on "The Border," "Exile," and Oscar winner "The Deer Hunter." He served for 25 yrs as Director of USC's Professional Writing Program and for 16 yrs as Distinguished Professor at Charles University in Prague. In 1996, Buzz Magazine named Ragan one of the "100 Coolest People in Los Angeles: Those Who Make a Difference."