Poems, stories, and photographs that travel through extreme natural and urban landscapes.
Ray DiZazzo is a poet obsessed with imagery, and the poems, photographs, and stories in Tropic Then attest to that obsession. Beginning with a visceral and intensely visual journey through the jungles and rainforests of Brazil, this collection captures what was once the beauty and spiritual aura surrounding the wildness of an untouched tropical forest.
The book is written in four sections. The first section, “Tropic Then,” refers to a time before the clearcutting and burning of the Amazonian jungles. “Polar,” the second section, focuses on cold themes as a counterpoint to the jungle heat. Section three, “The Dark,” consists of grim, shadowy poems, and section four, “Looking up in Los Angeles,” explores life in the jungle of city spaces. Though diverse in their style and content, these poems, stories, and images all work together to deliver stunning imagery. Tropic Then is not an activist, confessional, or heavily introspective work. Rather, it is a real-life poetic journey through our world filled with wonderful “ah-ha” moments that will delight its readers.
