The Invisible Fugue

<p class=ql-align-justify>At a time darkened by war Ellen Hinsey's <em>The Invisible Fugue</em> returns to questions of our endurance and what it means to be human. Like Czes?aw Mi?osz's <em>Treatise on Poetry The Invisible Fugue</em> lyrically reflects on the natural world around us the possible celebration in the encounter with the other our confrontation with time and the mysteries ever-present in the universe.</p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>Ellen Hinsey's mind bears witness to an unprecedented ability to never abandon poetry even when approaching the extreme limits of the darkness of our time. In this <em>Invisible Fugue</em> following step by step the movement of Beethoven's 'Große Fuge' Op.133 her poetry ventures into a new ecstatic dimension where 'released from the black chaos of the unmanifest' the earth appears as if in the splendor of the first day beyond all possible destruction. </p><p class=ql-align-justify>-Giorgio Agamben </p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>There's an omniscient beauty and wisdom in the intrepid music Ellen Hinsey distills from natural wonder from spiritual anguish and bewilderment. With roots in Beethoven's most radical futuristic composition the <em>Gro­ße Fuge</em> Hinsey's <em>The Invisible Fugue...</em>compels as both existential quest and far-reaching cosmic aria. After her previous volume <em>The Illegal Age</em> which confronted the chilling unraveling of democracy in our imperiled era these new 'mystical lyrics' (a decade in the making) arrive as a gust of splendid lyricism...The timeless poise and elegance of Hinsey's profound and sibylline project enhanced by her masterly command of cadence and lineation-artfully crafted in the face of carnage fear spiritual outcry and earthly chaos-is unmatched by any other English language poet writing today. </p><p class=ql-align-justify>-Cyrus Cassells author of<em> The World That the Shooter Left Us</em></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>If a Fugue is something you hear what is <em>The Invisible Fugue</em> of Ellen Hinsey's? It is a sourceless source and this mystery-an 'unlikely coming into being'-is what animates the lyrics of this collection. I've read Hinsey's work for years and every time the language and form feel constitutional something upon which to be made or unmade. <em>The Invisible Fugue </em>is no different: Hinsey looks for 'the fixed point of the unexpected' and manages to hold a tone both urgent and unhurried; fugitive and full of feeling; filled with knowing and filled beyond knowing. </p><p class=ql-align-justify>-Pádraig Ó Tuama host of <em>Poetry Unbound</em></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify>Ellen Hinsey's poetry balances between a deep engagement with the socio-political world and a rich inner realm. This collection stands out for its distinct mysticism-yet remains non-religious-characterized by its restrained poetic diction minimalism and musical elegance. It's a stylized empathetic lyricism of artful gesture...A masterful fugue of the <em>via negativa</em>.</p><p class=ql-align-justify>-Jaros?aw P?uciennik author of <em>The Courage of Poetics</em></p><p class=ql-align-justify><em>?</em></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p><p><br></p><p class=ql-align-justify><br></p>