A Natural History of Unnatural Things

“At times intimate and diaristic, at others raw and abrasive, Logan’s poems insistently blur the boundaries between reality and dreamscape, drawing the reader deeper into a richly evocative, perceptual realm. Line after line, each poem weaves a web of alternative relativities where human and non-human are enmeshed, inescapably caught in awesome interdependency. Recurring figures, circumstances, and conversational fragments outline an existentialist journey where materiality exudes desire. Logan’s ability to tease the numinous out of the mundane is only one of the many gifts pressed between the pages of this book. As time and space collapse into a universe of visionary landscapes, one becomes aware that Logan’s poetry belongs to the kind that forever changes the reader’s perspective on the world. An experimental take on romantic post-humanism, A Natural History of Unnatural Things has its roots firmly planted in the dirt as its tendrils soar towards the sky, where waxy blooms and nectarine delights remind us that every minute in life is well worth savoring.”

“Poetry and visual art have an intimate relationship, and the brilliant artist Zachari Logan demonstrates just how magnificent the exchange of imagery can be in his stunning debut poetry collection, A Natural History of Unnatural Things.  In Logan’s hands, the imprint of a moth wing on a napkin, or a loose tooth, or a cast-off cat claw in an ashtray can have heart-wrenching, macrocosmic ramifications. Combining the natural with the human-made, these poems become assemblages as complex as the horticultural collages of Mary Delany that Logan reveres. A Natural History of Unnatural Things reminds us that poetry comes from the kaleidoscopic imagination, yet it is Logan’s life experiences that ground the wisdom of these always unpredictable, sumptuously precise, unflinchingly observed poems.”