Philip Edward King
Fools Journey is an illustrated collection of 23 poems inspired by the Rider-Waite Tarot deck. Each poem subjectively expands on the connotations of a corresponding image, which in turn redefines the content of the writing until the two become interdependent on each other in order to fully understand the lessons they contain. At its core, this collection is an examination of the author's personal relationship to 'human nature' in light of such gripping phenomena as global warming, nuclear weaponry, racism, colonialism, overpopulation, and heterosexism. Informing this non-linear narrative are references to art history, philosophy, Classical mythology, and critical theory, as well as the author's internal monologues arising from focused meditation on the Tarot illustrated by Pamela Colman-Smith and writings by German psychologist Carl Jung on a spread known as 'the Fool's Journey' that uses the 22 Major Arcana cards to represent the ubiquitous challenges faced by humanity living on Earth. Through visual allegory and poetic rhetorical devices, this collection considers what it means to be creatures of a sapient nature living in a wild world that has been so heavily affected by humanism, politics, and technology.
