MOONSHINE
by Alan Brunton

By splitting the atom Ernest Rutherford became the first person to create a new element. Moonshine surrounds this discovery with an epic history, from Rutherford's birth in Brightwater to the dawn of a new epoch at Trinity. Mythology, alchemy and the ancient cosmic war between reason and chaos converge on the Metropole, Brussels, in 1911 when Rutherford tried to explain the new structure of reality to the few who can understand. Fantastic adventures with Wittgenstein and Madame Curie follow. Too late, Rutherford realises his discovery of nuclear energy will hold mankind hostage to political whim and historical mischance. Moonshine is an exhilarating fiction about science, language and fate.

Brunton: Poetry enters the society of the Spectacle because of its emotions, the poetry of the future will not be solely for the intellect, THE NEW POETRY WILL BE MAGICAL, it will be about charms, it will be useful against our enemies and head lice, speaking it will cure mangy skin, the blind will SEE; charms must be spoken; there has to be a performance; in the performance there is pleasure; it is the pleasure the adept takes in the performance that makes the charm powerful:

"Truly fine poetry must be read aloud. A good poem does not allow itself to be read in a low voice or silently. If we can read it silently it is not a valid poem; a poem demands pronunciation. Poetry always remembers that it was an oral art before it was a written art. It remembers that it was first song... Homer says in the Odyssey,

"The gods weave misfortunes for men, so that the generations to come will have something to sing about." Jorge Luis Borges -- Seven Nights, New York 1984.

Allan Brunton is an Island Bay poet and performer long associated with the international Red Mole theatre troupe.

Paperback, 21 x 15cm, perfect binding, 82pp
ISBN 0-9583649-2-3. $24

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