Islands
of Illusion
by Ernest
Dempsey
ISBN: 978-1-934209-30-1
This collection
of new poems by Ernest Dempsey is the stunning work of a genius. It features
a preface by the author, an introduction by Esther Lombardi, and an afterword
by poet M. Stefan
Strozier.
"...All are emotive, none removed. And there is always the element of surprise - silence inside the shout of a gun; a groan in a bellyful of mirth – that intrigues me to read more of Ernest Dempsey."
Reviewed by Eugen M. Bacon
TCM Reviews
"During my more careful re-reading, I seem to have lost my life preserver. I know I still had it for “A Tale.” I thought that I must have worn it through “A Mother’s Plea” for peace, space and time enough to become, herself, the criminal subject of the poem. There, an island was both a refuge from a raging sea, and an isolated sandbar vulnerable to the tides and storms. I must have worn a life preserver there!...These are cerebral poems, topically affiliated with contemporary discussions underway in graduate-level philosophy seminars. But the verse is crafted in an accessible style that will be relished by bright and informed readers from coffee houses to living rooms. We should expect to hear much more from this talented, young poet."
Reviewed by Joe Petrulionis
Book Pleasures.com
[From the Afterword by M. Stefan Strozier...]
“…there has never been a great American playwright, whereas America has had a few great writers in the past. O’Neill and Williams, though very good, are not on the same level as Shakespeare, Sophocles, Euripides, Ibsen, Chekov, etc. O’Neill’s best plays are about drunken Irishmen, drinking during most of the play!...Khan’s poetry is crystal-clear, pick any random line. His mind’s eye is capable of analyzing from several angles, simultaneously.”
I would bet that Mr. “Strozier” and Mr. “Dempsey” are very, very close. So close in fact, that if they are not one and the same, they would need to be separated with a crowbar.
--Reviewed by John Cartwright for Reader Views (3/08)
"I was born Aug 20, 1962. I went to NYU undergrad and rec'd my Ph.D. from Christ College, Cambridge U. in the UK. I've written several books and articles on literary criticism and the Theory of Evolution and currently work as an advisor to various museums internationally on the acquisition of rare books, most notably the Bodleian and the Pepys in the UK. I live in Pennsylvania and in New York City, splitting my time depending on where I am needed, usually following the "auction trail" in search of books required by my clients. I've recently written a book of poetry which will be published next year and my photographs (my hobby) will be exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in the Fall of 2009 in its show on photography and connoissseurship (for which I am also writing the catalogue introduction)."
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