Quaoar
by Ralph Hawkins, Alan Halsey, and Kelvin Corcoran
West House Books, 2006.
Spiral Bound, unpaginated. No price listed. Available from SPD Books.

A lively romp with near-Joycean twists, surrealistically illustrated by–If I’m not mistaken–my first-cousin, Alan Halsey.

Here’s an example of the energetic style and the capacious allusive range:

“At least we know what an unhatched
massospondylus dreamt of
but Bornogo? Alas. Tell Socrates
all that was inscribed on this particular tabula rasa
was the phrase ‘now swells with its ripening plot’
such venom de plume
regressive as the lyrics in a sci-fi western
in which nobody had noticed the Venusian landing in 1950
sort of Rip Van Winkle crossed with Gertruce Stein
very mine and in a dreamy way more Bee Time Vine
than vitamin D or Evita
‘iffy and effete’ Miss Smith burbled…”

Incredibly cultured, learned, and fun! Wish I had been there! Read this tome and you’ll wish you had been there, too.