sewn paper
Poetry
1989
64 pages
ISBN 0-88984-132-2
$7.95
The Cult of Seizure
Rikki Ducornet
The Cult of Seizure starts from a wonderfully lush photograph of
a Florentine cavern by Tony Urquhart, and proceeds visually through
a bestiary of the small creatures that crawl -- lizards, snakes,
crickets ... all rendered in the style of the 19th century steel
engraving, much after the manner of a dated zoology text.
`The Cult of Seizure is a combination of the bestial and the bestiary;
of terror and of tenderness. Ducornet's sensibility is as hot and
sharp and shining as a knife left out in the sun. A truly
spirit-stirring collection of poetry.' `Sharp, haunting poetry from a fine practitioner of the art. If you
read only one book of poetry this year ...'. `The passions that animate Rikki Ducornet's The Cult of Seizure
are both more apocalyptic and less immediately comprehensible, and sometimes seem to indicate
a surrender to the imagination rather than a shaping of it. The elemental forces in Ducornet's
world explode in irrevocable acts, as in "Abracadabra", with its admonitions to "Drink the dew
from the spoor of a one-legged crone" and "Take an axe to the spouse of a hardened heretic."
Visits aren't recommended to the weak of either spirit or stomach.
`But if you're willing to take the plunge into poetry that cuts close to the bone
of our dreams and obsessions, The Cult of Seizure contains some
absolutely stunning examples of how language can transform actuality. Using as her model the
medieval bestiary, wherein natural and imaginary animals mingled in glorious confusion, Ducornet,
whose third novel, The Fountains of Neptune was published earlier this year, has mixed
the rivetingly graphic and the ferociously fanciful into a striking volume of verse.' `The success of The Cult of Seizure is that its poems present
the grotesque and the passionate without giving in to melodrama or sentiment.'
- Jane Urquhart
- Globe and Mail
- Toronto Star
- Radcliffe Quarterly
![[Rikki Ducornet]](rikki.jpg)
Rikki is the author of two short-story collections, five books of poetry, and seven novels, including The Fan-Maker's Inquisition and The Jade Cabinet. She is also a painter whose work has been exhibited widely. She currently lives in Denver, Colorado.