Lilac Cigarette in a Wish Cathedral

Robin Magowan’s poems in Lilac Cigarette in a Wish Cathedral represent a poetry of heightened awarenesses and high-edge experiences caught on the run. Seized from a miniaturist’s perspective, the subjects are privileged moments: a child mat-riding on a Red Flag day; birds in a tropical forest; Greek sailors dancing; a trek in the Himalayas; drug overdoses during an affair with a terrorist dragon lady; personal experiences that combine into an oeuvre and a life. Magowan’s aim is to take the reader inside, as far as possible, using an instinctive notation to register his fascination with sensation, movement, and color. If it is mysticism–an awakening to the now–it is one that is happening line by line, and at times letter by letter, in a form that is lyrical, rhythm driven, and highly intensified.