Thoughts on Rereading Roger Zelazny’s Creatures of Light and Darkness

I first read Roger Zelazny’s Creatures of Light and Darkness over a half century ago.  It was sort of interesting but hard to grasp.  I hadn’t realized that, in large part, it was an epic poem. 

At the time, I’d not yet come to understand poetry. 

I wonder if Zelazny realized it was a poem. 

I’m rereading it now that I’m a bit wiser.  Or at least I believe I am.  Now that I’ve been exposed to poetry and even written some, although I’m still not always sure just what it is; only that meter, rhyme, alliteration, consonance, metaphor, simile and allegory sometimes but not always play a part.  Only that generation of emotion and visions and interweaving realities seems essential. 

I wonder how I’ll see this side of Roger this time.
_______

© Guillermo Calvo Mahé; Manizales, 2023; all rights reserved.  Please feel free to share with appropriate attribution.

Guillermo (“Bill”) Calvo Mahé (a sometime poet) is a writer, political commentator and academic currently residing in the Republic of Colombia (although he has primarily lived in the United States of America of which he is also a citizen).  Until 2017 he chaired the political science, government and international relations programs at the Universidad Autónoma de Manizales.  He has academic degrees in political science (the Citadel), law (St. John’s University), international legal studies (New York University) and translation and linguistic studies (the University of Florida’s Center for Latin American Studies).  However, he is also fascinated by mythology, religion, physics, astronomy and mathematics, especially with matters related to quanta and cosmogony.  He can be contacted at guillermo.calvo.mahe@gmail.com and much of his writing is available through his blog at https://guillermocalvo.com/.

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