{"product_id":"the-last-poet-phil-semler-9798387650253","title":"The Last Poet: The Memoirs of Whale, Including His Selected Poetry","description":"\u003ci\u003eThe Last Poet \u003c\/i\u003eis a speculative novel on an artist's purpose. After environmental disasters and nuclear war destroy the planet, survivors emerge from an underground shelter in the community of Independence. With the end of civilization, and without the technology and food of the past, without books, the town recreates a primitive society led by a few scientists who worked on the Jean Project, themselves dying off; the community is mainly concerned with procreation, as its numbers fall. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhale was a \"test tube baby,\" engineered by the \"guardians,\" created to withstand climate change. He was born just before the holocaust, the last of three-hundred children. After the nuclear war, all bets were off. Two years after the bombs and radiation, the community emerges from underground into a dead landscape each wearing synthetic survival suits.\u003cbr\u003eNearly forty years later, Whale is dying and writes his memoir, not knowing if anybody will even read his story, let alone care about his poetry and legacy. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eIn his imagination, he prepares for his final \"pilgrimage\" to the summit of Mt. Inyo, a volcanic massive looming over Independence and a metaphor for transcendence. He is a poet; therefore, an \"inward\" person; it's in his DNA, but what use is poetry now? Any literary tradition is gone, the words are gone, and all that survives several thousand years of language are fragments remembered by a few scientists, the \"guardians\"-themselves empiricists and uninterested in art. Survival is all now. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eWhale is a nature poet of landscapes in a decimated world and must use his imagination to write his obscure poetry. Though he serves as the town's poet laureate, he mainly commemorates the births and advances of his town's banal existence. His memoir includes the beautiful and expansive poetry of the inner world he created during his life. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003eHe gives insights into his thinking, creativity, and spirituality-his inwardness and profound response to the human and natural catastrophes around him and why art matters even in a near-meaningless world.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Phil Semler\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9798387650253\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Independently Published\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/19\/2023\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 258\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Paperback\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 0.77lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.54d","brand":"Phil Semler","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":48851455312127,"sku":"9798387650253","price":9.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/the-last-poet-phil-semler-9798387650253","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}