The Odd Puppet Odyssey: An Adult Epic on a Small Stage

The Odd Puppet Odyssey is an illustrated series of narrative poems. Reading as parables, they are poems for adults about the voyage of two puppet characters, Pongo and Rico. In the course of their journey, they explore identity, sexuality, adulthood, relationships and some of the social forces that affect them and their world. Recalling Homer’s Odyssey as well as The Epic of Gilgamesh, Collodi’s The Adventures of Pinoccio, and Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Pongo and Rico travel down a rabbit hole to meet Death in Wonderland, are chased by the Hairy Monster of Manhood, and climb through the interior of a giant model of themselves. Leavened with humour and irony, this book is a picaresque story of self-acceptance and growth. Celeste Ericsson, the illustrator, worked in tandem with the author, so that poems and illustrations evolved together. The artist has been influenced by Renaissance and Baroque art, the commedia dell'arte and the satirical etchings of James Gillray.