The Mysteries

To say that The Mysteries is merely a tour de force of writerly craft would be to underestimate Bill Considine's powers as a poet. I say this because Considine works impressively, even expertly, on the level of ideas. In his stunning verse play, the nuances of technique-metaphor, juxtaposition, enjambment, caesura, silence-are placed in the service of urgent philosophical and sociohistorical questions. Here is a dialogue between history and modernity that is as timeless as it is timely, as haunting as it is faultlessly crafted.