Under Forests of Futility

"Vast lattices of black shale engulf us while we sleep. Primordial roots hunch over, as if in prayer. Arching acacia and star pine whisper spectral apprehensions. Black opal rains submerge everything permanent." A collection of lyrical, melancholic poems by the author of A Natural History of Seaweed Dreams and Songs from the Black Moon. **** "Like a revenant, the poems of Rasu-Yong Tugen resurrect the literary tradition of Dark Romanticism - stark, sparse, and drenched in a blackened lyricism...ecstatic lamentations for the world-without-us..."

-- Eugene Thacker, author of In The Dust of This Planet **** "In this book is poetry that evokes the impersonal all around us, and deep within us. It is poetry carefully chiselled from the hues of night."

-- Joao da Cruz e Sousa, author of Notebooks of a Black Swan "This is not a book for human beings. For every reader will, upon reading it, become lost - blissfully, bewilderingly lost - like a sleep-walker in the black forests of lyric."

-- Comtesse Anna de Noailles, author of A Shadow of Days "A harrowing testament to the luminous uselessness of poetic language. I wish all language was this haunted."

-- Sadegh Hedayat, author of The Blind Owl