White Man's Inferno Book Trailer

When I heard of the phenomenon called book trailers, I thought I’d try making one for my book White Man’s Inferno. This book is an integral first step towards the epic of Amarantus. It encompasses my struggle to develop into a leadership role, which becomes complete with Urias, the pivotal figure of Amarantus and founder of the Cymry Hyyl. Given this, White Man's Inferno deserves my efforts to promote it despite the fact that I have moved past some of the observations and premature conclusions made in that book to a more clear, concrete foundation of practical faith.

For the soundtrack I utilized a song that I co-wrote with a good friend of mine, Denny Miller, called “The Song of Me.” Hopefully the result is something reflective and emotionally moving. I’ll let you decide.

Thanks again for checking me out. More to come.

Chicago Poetry Fest 4-25-09

On Saturday, April 25th, I attended the Chicago Poetry Fest at the Harold Washington Library in Chicago. There was a poetry reading sponsored by ChicagoPoetry.com from 2 to 4 at which WBEZ's Chicago Amplified recorded poetry readings by the local poets present, professional and amateur alike. Additionally, at this event copies of ChicagoPoetry.com’s free publication Poetry Cram 5, in which one of my poems “The Confession of Urias” is included, were handed out to the public.



It was definitely an interesting experience. Emotions ran high and there was an army of poets hungry for the opportunity to read before an attentive audience. Although the organizer CJ Laity had the best intentions and signed up everyone who wanted to read, cramming fifty-three poets in a 150-minute time span was an overly ambitious feat. Unfortunately, this meant many of us who read later in the program had to quicken the pace of our own poetry readings (myself included), and still there were poets who never got to read because the library was closing. This meant the tension was high, especially in that last half hour.



Although I was fortunate enough to read, WBEZ cut off their recording a good fifteen minutes before I got up there, so alas that opportunity passed me by. Still, it was liberating to go up there and command the attention of a captive audience, even if only for two minutes. It was definitely an empowering experience. Even better, my sister recorded the whole thing and I can upload the video along with some images into this posting for those of you who might be curious to see and hear me read my poetry.

This is definitely something I will want to do again. Having a forum through which to express one’s ideas and creativity is certainly one of the great gifts of a free society. That so many people wish to engage in such an event is encouraging.

Below is a transcript of the poem, in case the audio isn’t clear enough. Thanks again for checking me out. I’ll continue to post such experiences in the future.

The Confession of Urias
By Giuliano A. Fontanez

Of Man’s First Will to Act & thus Refute
That Bestial side which threatens to consume
& ravage him till he no longer Lives,
But Undead makes this World a living hell,
Until the Coming of our noble Arthur,
Sing Goddess Three: Thy servant Urias
Remembers Thy chaste Lady of the Lake,
Her tender gift to me made profusely;
To Her I grant the Grail of Christ’s Message
To keep as testament of what’s to come
That She may grow into womanhood Lov’d,
& justifie Thy Promis’d Throne ‘mong men.

With tears I sought Her in oceans of hate;
I howl’d for Her after years lost at sea,
Lost in that oblivion selfishly
For hurts done long ago, for hurts of which
I no longer know, but the residue.
I took much to heart, things said & things done,
That were naught in weight had I not thought ‘pon.
I burn’d my house down & all bridges, too.
Alone I became Le Bel Inconnu,
Hiding in the black forest from all men,
Victim to succubi & spider webs.
Two twinkling stars alone offer’d me hope;
A faint Jupiter warm’d up my dead nights.
Until I, desiring these divine flames,
Built a ship seeking escape in the sea
Only to be trapped one hundred eight moons
By Circe’s cruel winds in a maelstrom of doubt.
Then a brief calm blanketed the sea that
Oft times before went unheeded by me;
& I in meditation now seeking
To improve, notic’d the sparkle in the depths
& seeing my chance dove into blackness.
I, pearlfisher bard, dar’d to risk my life
For the thought of Her whom I had known once.

©2009 Giuliano A. Fontanez

Amarantus Dawn

Welcome to a whole new world being born.

This is for all those of you whom I know or who I am about to know: a place where you can see what I am doing as a poet and interact with me and those ideas that form the core of my being.

It all began a decade ago with a single word: Amarantus. Think of it as a flower, but a flower that never fades. It goes on as worlds are born and die. Forever blooming, forever evolving, it’s the final destination every soul craves—the triumph of a purpose fulfilled.

From this resplendent realm every living being comes, but only the choosers return. The choosers are those of us who choose to meet people halfway without demanding to change them. We accept the limitations of those around us and strive for the best within ourselves. We take risks for the sake of an idea, an image, a promise made secretly. It’s not about changing the world; it’s about BE-ing the change you wish to see in the world around you. Living it, with persistence, and with faith.

There are no guarantees in such a path, but it is a path well-treaded by those who have chosen it for thousands of years. It is an arduous path, full of hardship and suffering, a path of endurance, the path of survival. At times it can be a lonely path, at times the path is overrun by wilderness and can grow uncertain, but throughout it’s imprinted with the deep footsteps of those who came before you, so you can find your way again.

Personally, I have run away from this path. I have made every effort to avoid it. Until, in the end, I was forced down it kicking and screaming by the sheer reality of poverty. Starvation and homelessness can be an unrelenting motivator to those of us who wish to feed our groaning bellies and have a roof over our heads to sleep in, and must do so solely through our own efforts. Yet even here we can lose hope and descend into madness, if not for the loved ones who share in our plight and for whom we continue the struggle of living. There will be intense moments of frustration and anger at the injustice and the restlessness of the situation, but in the end if we truly seek to improve ourselves, we will be granted the choice of walking the path to Amarantus.

My book White Man’s Inferno: A century of living torture is an allegorical interpretation of that journey I have chosen to make at its very beginning, when the difference between right and wrong needed to be clearly defined, and where ideas for a new faith that could grow from our pagan and Christian past could be freely considered. It is a journey through my living hell, so that I could purge myself of hatred against things said and things done that are now far in the past, and that I might transform myself into someone new—and that someone has a name: Urias.

That story and its development I would like to share with you all in this blog and in my writings. So far the path has carried me past the white man’s inferno to the enigmatic figures of Merlyn and Hamlet. Through them I am discovering a renewed sense of purpose in my work and an uplifting vision for humanity that I offer to the choosers who like me wish to go home some day to Amarantus.

It is like Merlyn, the first Urias, has said to me:

“After it’s all said and done I won’t be remembered for uniting the noble houses of Prydein (Britannia), nor for restoring the Cruwwgh (Stonehenge) and uncovering Logar (the kingdom of Camelot), nor for my efforts with the Teuton immigration and the building of the Branclawdd (Wansdyke), nor my numerous battles against our final disintegration, but for giving the world Aradus (King Arthur) and the Duselmir (Knights of the Round Table) through a brotherhood of the howl dedicated to our Goddess in a Grail—the Cymry Hyyl.”

Amarantus Dino! Logar Dino! Cymry Hyyl!