Grand Gnostic Central & Other Poems

Bryan Sentes writes with a rare breadth of sensibility and style: bardic declamation and intimate lyric, ironic oracle and tart satire, incantatory deconstructions and romantic nature hymns. In this, his first full-length collection of poetry, subjects ranging from the chopping block of History to childhood memories, from Meister Eckhart to flying saucers, are rendered in a manner no less unsettling and exhilarating than the world around us.

Grand Gnostic Central is a poetic and philosophical work resolutely bent on wringing a delirious lucidity from the white noise at the start of the new Millennium...

where

The stars are all arranged in such a way

As to suggest an endless emptiness

Or heavens full of foreign deities.

Critical Comment

i...skill and professional polish.... captures that rare, spontaneous chemistry of language finding language.i

o The Montreal Gazette

i...a strong sense of the mindis quest for transcendental meaning.... Sentes is a mature artist with serious things to say.i

o Canadian Book Review Annual

iIronic, sometimes satiric, Sentesi verse is philosophical and attuned to the nuances of rare and pivotal moments in time.i

o Rampike