Finding Louis O'Soup by Walter Hildebrandt (Author)

ISBN: 9781897430248

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Ekstasis Editions; First Edition (October 30, 2008)

Paperback ‏ : ‎ 98 pages

Truth and lies, freedom and fascism, Old and New World, native and colonial values - these are the themes which permeate Walter Hildebrandt's new volume of poetry, Finding Louis O'Soup. In three long poems exploring vastly different territory, Hildebrandt weaves a telling tale of displacement and dishonesty, exposing the discrepancy between unvarnished events and the sanitized accounts of history. The title poem, 'Finding Louis O'Soup (in the British Museum),' revives the memory of a legendary Salteaux orator whose tribal shirt was appropriated in the name of 'preservation,' though his dignified words were largely unheeded. The second long poem, 'A Doable Do' takes its title from the Bush administration s smug assessment of success prior to the invasion of Iraq. Invoking the theory of 'the necessary lie' espoused by philosopher Leo Strauss as a basis for the restriction of freedoms, the action moves from the political to the personal, from the global to the local, in a thought-provoking poetic expose. The final poem, 'Crossroads,' celebrates a noisy public market as evidence of the human spirit that cannot be repressed. Daring and remarkably crafted, Hildebrandt's poems offer refreshing honesty and fire.
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