Ascend Ascend

*First confirmed blurbs include Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin and Peter Maravalis from City Lights Books. More to come. * Ascend Ascend is poet Janaka Stucky's second book for Third Man Books. His first book THE TRUTH IS WE ARE PERFECT sold over 2000 copies and continues to sell. * First run of Ascend Ascend will be 5000 *Janaka Stucky is also owner/editor/founder of the respect, small poetry press Black Ocean. * He is the editor of the journal Handsome. * In 2010 he was voted "Boston's Best Poet" in the Boston Phoenix. *Ascend Ascend is a book length, ecstatic poem heavily steeped in occult and jewish mysticism. * An excellent live performer, Janaka will be touring the US, UK, and Europe. * Written over the course of twenty days, coming in and out of trance states brought on by intermittent fasting and somatic rituals while secluded in the tower of a 100-year-old church, Ascend Ascend is equal parts Walt Whitman and Maggot Brain, documenting the ecstatic destruction of the self. *The Introduction will be written by writer, teacher, respected occultist Pam Grossman whose work has been featured in Artforum, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Art in America. She is the curator of Phantasmaphile and also host of the Witch Wave podcast * The cover art will be illustrated by Aaron Horkey who has done work for bands such as Isis and The Melvins. He is the owner/curator of thevacvvm.com. His Instagram has over 194k followers.

Ascend Ascend was written in and out of trance states secluded in a 100-year-old church tower. Equally Walt Whitman and Maggot Brain, this book documents the ecstatic destruction of the self through its union with the divine.Ascend Ascend was written over the course of twenty days, coming in and out of trance states brought on by intermittent fasting and somatic rituals while secluded in the tower of a 100-year-old church. It is rooted in the jewish mystical tradition of merkabah literature, chronicling an ascent up the kabbalistic sefirot to witness the “chariot of god.” While traditional merkabah prose trends dry—focused on preparations for the journey while demurring to describe the experience itself—Ascend Ascend uses poetry to touch the ineffable. Equal parts Walt Whitman and Maggot Brain, this long poem documents the ecstatic destruction of the self.