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Using the numerical structure of pi, MECHANOPHILIA is a collaborative epic by American poet Vi Khi Nao and Canadian poet Sarah Burgoyne (who have never met) that follows the omniscient conversations and complaints of ad hoc biblical characters as they attempt to make sense of themselves on an ordered, disordered planet. The first of four volumes completed so far, MECHANOPHILIA represents the first 3,000 decimal places of pi. Anachronistic in proportion, this work attempts to queer and rewrite myths in precise numerical pi chronology, yet its verses remain free and ludic, time-travelling at will and often looping in present-day concerns and figures (Lady Gaga, Elon Musk, Cai Guo-Qiang, Donald Trump, Phoebe Philo, Ryuichi Sakamoto). MECHANOPHILIA presents infinity as something reachable yet unrelated to linear time.
Poetry.
About the author
Vi Khi Nao is the author of six poetry collections: FISH CARCASS (Black Sun Lit, 2022),
A Bell Curve Is a Pregnant Straight Line (11:11 Press, 2021),
Human Tetris (11:11 Press, 2019), SHEEP MACHINE (Black Sun Lit, 2018),
Umbilical Hospital (Press 1913, 2017),
The Old Philosopher (winner of the Nightboat Prize for 2014), and of the short story collection
A Brief Alphabet of Torture (winner of the 2016 FC2's Ronald Sukenick Innovative Fiction Prize) and the novel
Fish in Exile (Coffee House Press, 2016). Her work includes poetry, fiction, film, and cross-genre collaboration. She was the fall 2019 fellow at the Black Mountain Institute.
