Had to push the date back a little bit, but keep your eyes peeled for Seven Times Down by Wilfred Hildonen!! A collection of bilingual poems and original artwork. Dropping this Saturday on Feb. 12th, I’ll share the link once it goes live on Amazon.
“Over a decade ago I met Sámi, Finn, Norwegian Wilfred Hildonen at an International Arts Festival in Viseu, Portugal. We had several long conversations. The indigenous Wilfred Hildonen is as radiantly complex as any human enigma can be. Albert Camus and Franz Kafka come to mind. But damn all comparisons. Camus, Kafka, Hildonen are all originals, beyond any lame ass he reminds me of. Wilfred is an artist, political cartoonist, writer, poet, thinker, and a brilliant conversationalist. I have been honored to publish his work and I’m sure as hell thankful to Cajun Mutt Press for finally making his poetry and art available for English and Norwegian audiences here in SEVEN TIMES DOWN, Wilfred’s first full length bilingual volume of poetry and art. Open your doors of perception and step into the mind of one of the world’s great creative artists, Wilfred Hildonen.”
—Ron Whitehead, U.S. National Beat Poet Laureate
Wilfred Hildonen says, “I’m an autodidact when it comes to everything.” As such, the poems in Seven Times Down ooze from his bones and not from a classroom. His cataloging approach to imagery, though reminiscent of Whitman and Ginsberg, is as fresh as an apple still on the branch. In “The end of Santa Claus” he writes “It’s the end of santa claus . . . / and the Christmas trees are all on fire / and the sleigh is stuck in the quagmire / and the Christmas dinner is burning in a pyre.” Yes, he exercises rhyme but only as he sees fit and not according to a scheme. From poem to poem Hildonen’s language feels organic—not jammed into a preexisting format but flowing like a river from his imagination. The variety here is rich and unpredictable. There are prose poems so unique that they recreate the genre, plus song-like poems that are just as original. If you’re looking for a surprise around every corner, you’ll find it in this book. Nary a dull moment in Seven Times Down. I highly recommend it.
—Alan Britt, Gunpowder for Single-ball Poems
Towson University