A Mystical Theology of the Limbic Fissure by Peter O’Leary

“Peter O’Leary’s poetry, all “Gold, myrrh-soot/ and smoke.” emerges from an ancient matrix of Eastern Orthodox, Islamic, and Jewish mysticism, and yet remains wholly of our time and place.” – Norman Finkelstein

“One of the best young poets of our time” – Ronald Johnson

An Excerpt

As Twilight into Noonday Knowledge Gyres

Angels finally
are fractals, shape-hierarchies, spheres
of fire at a distance,
tongues of flame at their mouths,

out of which the final triad choruses a
baritone hosanna
echoed with a tenor amen.

About the Author

As the literary executor of Ronald Johnson, Peter O’Leary has recently republished Radi os (Flood Editions). He is the author of Watchfulness (Spuyten Duyvil) and Gnostic Contagion: Robert Duncan & the Poetry of Illness (Wesleyan). A new book of poetry, Depth Theology, is forthcoming from the University of Georgia Press. He lives in Berwyn, on Chicago’s West Side, with his wife and son, and teaches at the School of the Art Institute.