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About
Imagine The Matrix retold by the reanimated cyborg bodies of the Brothers Grimm.
Fables and fairytales collide with virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and monstrous myths in a world where no one knows what to believe. In his eighth book of poems, Paul Vermeersch responds to the increasing difficulty of knowing what is real and what isn't, what is our genuine experience and what is constructed for us by The Algorithm. In a "post-truth" society rife with simulations, misinformation, and computer-generated hallucinations, these poems explore the relationship between the synthetic and the authentic as they raise hope for the possibility of escape from MCHNCT (Machine City) to NMLCT (Animal City), where the promise of "real life" still exists.
These poems - all precisely 16 lines long, identically formed as though mass-produced - are themselves artificial creations, products of the imagination, sometimes disorienting but always vivid. They hold up a mirror not only to nature, but also to its unnatural distortions and facsimiles. In NMLCT, Vermeersch gives us his answer to an existence in thrall to the artificial. But it also foretells a different future, one where the air and the grass and the trees, and all the life they engender, might always be genuine and sensed and safe.
Vermeersch responds to the growing difficulty of distinguishing what's real in a "post-truth" society filled with simulations, misinformation, and AI. These poems explore the tension between the synthetic and authentic, raising hope for an escape from MCHNCT (Machine City) to NMLCT (Animal City), where "real life" might still exist.
Paul Vermeersch is a poet, multimedia artist, and literary editor. His last book of poetry was Shared Universe: New and Selected Poems 1995–2020. A professor of creative writing and publishing at Sheridan College, he also edits his own imprint, Buckrider Books, for Wolsak & Wynn Publishers. He lives in Toronto, ON.
Sales and Market Bullets
• HIGHLY PRAISED POET: Vermeersch's previous collections have been finalists for the K.M. Hunter Artist Award in Literature (2013), the Trillium Book Award (2011), and the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award (2000).
• PRAISE FOR VERMEERSCH:
• "Vermeersch's poetry is tremendously rich … The poems, always perceptive, sometimes achingly sad, and sometimes achingly funny - are real poems. That is, they are written with an ear for the sound of our language: for the basic iambic of English, for the drama of emotion and wit, for the richly suggestive possibilities of pun and colloquial usage." - The Fiddlehead on Shared Universe
• "Replete with deep thinking and reflection, revealing the poet's wide-ranging intellect, eclectic mind, and penchant for sharp satire." - Publishers Weekly on Self-Defence for the Brave and Happy
• "Demonstrating remarkable virtuosity and range, Vermeersch here assumes the contradictory mantle of the prophetic, post-apocalyptic poet, and the poems suitably offer a paradoxical mix of cynicism and hope." - Quill & Quire on Don't Let It End Like This Tell Them I Said Something
Fables and fairytales collide with virtual reality, artificial intelligence, and monstrous myths in a world where no one knows what to believe. In his eighth book of poems, Paul Vermeersch responds to the increasing difficulty of knowing what is real and what isn't, what is our genuine experience and what is constructed for us by The Algorithm. In a "post-truth" society rife with simulations, misinformation, and computer-generated hallucinations, these poems explore the relationship between the synthetic and the authentic as they raise hope for the possibility of escape from MCHNCT (Machine City) to NMLCT (Animal City), where the promise of "real life" still exists.
These poems - all precisely 16 lines long, identically formed as though mass-produced - are themselves artificial creations, products of the imagination, sometimes disorienting but always vivid. They hold up a mirror not only to nature, but also to its unnatural distortions and facsimiles. In NMLCT, Vermeersch gives us his answer to an existence in thrall to the artificial. But it also foretells a different future, one where the air and the grass and the trees, and all the life they engender, might always be genuine and sensed and safe.
Vermeersch responds to the growing difficulty of distinguishing what's real in a "post-truth" society filled with simulations, misinformation, and AI. These poems explore the tension between the synthetic and authentic, raising hope for an escape from MCHNCT (Machine City) to NMLCT (Animal City), where "real life" might still exist.
Paul Vermeersch is a poet, multimedia artist, and literary editor. His last book of poetry was Shared Universe: New and Selected Poems 1995–2020. A professor of creative writing and publishing at Sheridan College, he also edits his own imprint, Buckrider Books, for Wolsak & Wynn Publishers. He lives in Toronto, ON.
Sales and Market Bullets
• HIGHLY PRAISED POET: Vermeersch's previous collections have been finalists for the K.M. Hunter Artist Award in Literature (2013), the Trillium Book Award (2011), and the Gerald Lampert Memorial Award (2000).
• PRAISE FOR VERMEERSCH:
• "Vermeersch's poetry is tremendously rich … The poems, always perceptive, sometimes achingly sad, and sometimes achingly funny - are real poems. That is, they are written with an ear for the sound of our language: for the basic iambic of English, for the drama of emotion and wit, for the richly suggestive possibilities of pun and colloquial usage." - The Fiddlehead on Shared Universe
• "Replete with deep thinking and reflection, revealing the poet's wide-ranging intellect, eclectic mind, and penchant for sharp satire." - Publishers Weekly on Self-Defence for the Brave and Happy
• "Demonstrating remarkable virtuosity and range, Vermeersch here assumes the contradictory mantle of the prophetic, post-apocalyptic poet, and the poems suitably offer a paradoxical mix of cynicism and hope." - Quill & Quire on Don't Let It End Like This Tell Them I Said Something