Unus Mundus

Poetry. Second Prize Winner, John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Competition. Finalist for three Saskatchewan Book Awards (University of Regina Book of the Year Award; Saskatchewan Arts Board Poetry Award; City of Saskatoon & Public Library Saskatoon Book Award). In this, her ninth collection of poetry, Mari-Lou Rowley explores how we, as a species, have moved beyond our search for a union with the cosmos--in the spiritual sense--to the desire to conquer its mysteries and exploit its resources.

This manuscript is scientifically, philosophically, and aesthetically informed, and uses formal conventions and strategies to unique and surprising effect. We are taken on imaginative journeys through space, time, and objects in the CosmoSonnets, and into fifth and sixth dimensions through such poems as 'This morning the gangsta movie in my head exploded' and 'Mutated Interview with European Space Agency Astronaut on Space Debris and other Interstellar Phenomena.' A confident and challenging voice; a cosmic vision.--Jury Comments, John V. Hicks Long Manuscript Award

Rowley repeatedly astonishes with her ability to incorporate science and the vocabulary of science into her poetry all while remaining attuned to the musicality of the language: lovemaking, for instance, is '[p]article energy measured in electron volts, / the untidy oblate geometry of love' and, in a later section, a fish is described as a 'voracious gleaming / skin slick / and sinking fast'...
Rowley's ninth collection is ambitious and sophisticated, and a must-read for anyone interested in science poetry, ecocriticism, or who wants to a fresh vision of the unity underlying our 'one world.'--Alexis Motuz, Arc Poetry

Rowley has a ferociously active and fertile mind and she covers vast territories more easily than one can imagine. She does this with poetry that challenges and rewards in equal measure...This is an experienced poet at the top of her game and in full control.--Michael Dennis, blog