Immortality Author:Mike O'Connor The poems of Immortality fall into three sections: Immortality, Icarus, and American Spirit. The title poem weaves together several stories drawing on biography, history, and myth. The stories: a poet who seeks lasting fame (Ezra Pound); a warrior who seeks a place in history through conquest (Emperor Julian); and a young girl who seeks Taoist... more » immortality (Mei-li). The primary narrative is recited by a poet of the T ang Dynasty, over tea with his former Zen master. Icarus is an experimental poem that describes, in fragments and surreal imagery, the poet s experience of disorientation in returning after several years to an Asian city that was once his home, a city he discovered to be undergoing tumultuous environmental and infrastructural change. American Spirit, the last section of the book, is a series of poems focusing on the poet's friends and local landscapes.« less