Canto IV—Destruction of American Empire

American Empire in V Cantos

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Visions of Desolation and Revival:

Canto V—American Desolation & Canto postscript—American Revival

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A note from ringleader:

Thank you for reading American Empire in V Cantos. My aim with this piece was to depict the whole course of American history in poetic form as inspired by the great American painter Thomas Cole and his Course of Empire series of paintings (1833-1836). As you may have noticed, I utilized each respective painting to create the “cover art” for each canto. After learning that Cole intended his series to be a parallel to the United States, I just had to pen an epic poem in the same vein.

Sometime in the not too terribly far off future—though not anytime super soon, as I am pivoting to tend to some other irons in the fire—I will release a piece that will explore both Cole’s series and its inspirations as well as my own. I appreciate when artists let their work speak for itself, but just as Cole released descriptions of each painting in his series, I have plenty more I feel led to say about my cantos. So I hope that you’ll look forward to that with me.

Thank you for reading and supporting dog and pony show.

As always—

Deo vindice,
ringleader

Cantos IV & V—Destruction of American Empire & American Desolation (Audio)