The Decipherment of Nature, by Philip Kane

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From multiple author and poet Philip Kane comes an astounding collection of poems that “turn the reader into … a badger digging for the roots of stars.” Playfully weaving together the ancient and the mundane, the poems in The Decipherment of Nature are an absolute delight for both the magically and poetically inclined.

This was not meant when I cast the spell
of rewilding, but here it is: the wolf
that licks at my face to wake me,
bats among the rafters, shy deer
that hide under the dinner table.
I follow the hollow way to my study,
where I scratch runes into birch bark.

(This is for the print editions. For the digital edition, see this link)

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From multiple author and poet Philip Kane comes an astounding collection of poems that “turn the reader into … a badger digging for the roots of stars.” Playfully weaving together the ancient and the mundane, the poems in The Decipherment of Nature are an absolute delight for both the magically and poetically inclined.

This was not meant when I cast the spell
of rewilding, but here it is: the wolf
that licks at my face to wake me,
bats among the rafters, shy deer
that hide under the dinner table.
I follow the hollow way to my study,
where I scratch runes into birch bark.

(This is for the print editions. For the digital edition, see this link)

Philip Kane

Philip Kane is an author and poet, a storyteller in the oral tradition, and an artist. He was a founding member of the London Surrealist Group. His previous books include The Wildwood King (Capall Bann, 1997), Unauthorised Person (Cultured Llama, 2012), and Dramatis Personae (Whisky & Beards, 2019). Philip's work has also been widely published in journals including A Beautiful Resistance; and in anthologies including the seminal Transformation: the poetry of spiritual consciousness (Rivelin Grapheme, 1988). He was a contributor to The Gorgon's Guide to Magical Resistance (Revelore Press, 2022).

Philip lives in Kent, in the south-eastern corner of England, with a large and diverse collection of books, swords and toy soldiers. He sometimes remembers to blog at his sites thenl.wordpress.com and thewayfaringtree.wordpress.com

  • "A collection of thoughtful poems that often use the distant past as a lens through which to examine the human condition, from a mammoth bone to a pair of notched Celtic swords to the black ships of ancient Mycenae. Philosophical meditations filled with vivid mythic images."

    —Christoper Scott Thompson, author of Pagan Anarchism, If In Ruins We Must Live, and The Book of Onei

    “Philip Kane’s poetry has a Kentish voice but also an international one. His poems have weight, but they are not too heavy. They turn the reader into an archaeologist digging through the layers of language or perhaps a badger digging for the roots of stars.”

    —Bill Lewis, author of Sparrowhawk.

  • Publisher : Ritona Books
    Published : 25 February, 2025
    Formats : Paperback, Hardcover with slipcase
    Pages : 90
    Size : 5.5 in x 8.5 in or 140 mm x 216 mm

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