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Rebel Lions, Michael McClure's first book of poetry since the retrospective
Selected Poems (1985), spans a decade of profound personal change and poetic evolution for the author. In an introductory note, he provides a backdrop for the collection, which moves from old life to new. McClure's work bursts forth from the matrix of the physical and spiritual. "Poetry is one of the edges of consciousness," he asserts. "And consciousness is a real thing like the hoof of a deer or the smell of a bush of blackberries at the roadside in the sun." In the first section of
Rebel Lions, "Old Flames," the poems range from the realistic ("Awakening and Recalling a Summer Hike") to the metaphorical ("The Silken Stitching"), as the poet addresses a life on the verge of transformation. The second section, "Rose Rain," exults in a life transformed through love's alchemy.
Rebel Lions closes with "New Brain," poems affirming the freedom of all humankind and matter in the eternal now.
About the author
Michael McClure, a founding member of the Beat Generation, has long been noted for the popularity of his dynamic poetry performances. At twenty-two he gave his first poetry reading at the legendary Six Gallery event in San Francisco, where Allen Ginsberg first read
Howl. He is the co-author of the song "Mercedes Benz" and often performs with musicians, notably Ray Manzarek and Terry Riley.
Summary
McClure, Rebel Lions. Poetry spanning a decade of personal change and growth.
