In his new collection, Dungenessque, Charach builds on his strength as a storyteller, infusing his poems with the metaphoric intensity that characterized his first book, The Big Life Painting. One by one, the matrices of our identity—physical, sexual, relational and cultural—are shown to be as pitiable and as strangely noble as the bold character armour that conceals them. Dungenessque is a compelling study of pride, shame and redemption. With the insight of a practising therapist and the skill of a surgeon, Charach removes the outer shell that protects us from each other to explore those vulnerable areas in which the embattled self resides. Dungenessque is Charach's sixth collection of poems. --- from the publisher |