Rapture: Endings of Space and Time

by Adam Donaldson Powell

At a time when it would seem that humanity now needs art and poetry more than ever, the profession of poetry has perhaps never before seemed so much of a useless occupation from an economical perspective. And yet the number of aspiring professional, amateur and closet poets seems to increase all across the world. In a rapid-paced environment where the Internet has foreclosed on both newspapers and long novels, and where coming to the point in a cost-effective way is the norm for all forms of communication ( time is money ), poetry has begun to regain an important status as a means of quickly conveying ideas and feelings and of providing recreation and diversion in small doses. The prevalence of storytelling as a form in today s poetry attests to this new need for economizing literary access to both information and escape. At the same time, another new form of poetry has re-emerged in recent years: rapturous poetry, i.e. active poetry which is akin to free prose written in an economical style and format. Rapturous poetry is actually nothing new even in the English language. I personally consider much of Walt Whitman s poetry to be rapturous in both style and form, as in Whitman s poem Poets to come! from Leaves of Grass . By rapturous I mean enticing , actively engaging and transporting . In this day and age it can be argued that rapture is perhaps more identifiable with a contagious sense of conviction and the power of sentimental persuasion rather than overbearing romanticism, and religious or sensual ecstasy. The drive to live, to create, to experience and to convey one s feelings, thoughts and experiences in an unfolding and captivating fashion is evident in all who wish to leave their signature upon the annals of history if even for a brief moment in time. This is the passion of the 21st century. It is not necessarily an ego trip, but perhaps an attempt to both justify and verify life itself at a time when the value of human life and noncon

86 pages, Paperback

First published March 15, 2007

About the author

ADAM DONALDSON POWELL (Norway) is a multilingual author, literary critic, and art photography critic; and a professional visual artist. He has published several literary books (including collections of poetry, short stories, and novellas, two science fiction novels, and essays) in the USA, Norway and India; as well as numerous works in international literary publications on several continents. He has written, published and performed his works in English, Spanish, French and Norwegian. He has previously authored theatrical works performed onstage, and he has read his poetry at venues in New York City (USA), Oslo (Norway), Buenos Aires (Argentina), and Kathmandu (Nepal). His book “Gaytude” (co-authored with Albert Russo) won the 2009 National Indie Excellence Award in the category gay/lesbian non-fiction. Powell was also the winner of the Azsacra International Poetry Award in 2008, and the recipient of a Norwegian Foreign Ministry travel stipend for authors in 2005. Powell also took initiative to planning and organizing the “Words – one path to peace and understanding” international literary festival in Oslo, Norway in 2008. He has been an author under the Cyberwit label since 2005, and he has published 12 literary books since 1987. His poetry and essays have been translated into several languages, including: Spanish, French, Russian, Japanese and Bengali.

Read a review of my latest book "Entre Nous et Eux" here: https://adamangel.me/2017/02/04/revie...