On the News That Sagittarius A* Grows Hungrier - by Nicola Vulpe (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In late 2019 astronomers discovered that Sagittarius A*, a supermassive black hole at the centre of our galaxy was getting hungrier, consuming nearby matter at a rate never before seen. We humans now dominate every inch of this planet, every ecological niche. We have enslaved every human and every species we find useful, exterminating those we do not--and yet we grow hungrier. We are our own Sagittarius A*.

Scientists and activists tell us we are reaching the tipping point, that if we don't change our ways immediately, there will be no return. They are mistaken. That was long ago. We have written our tragedy, and we are playing out the final scene. On the News that Sagittarius A* Grows Hungrier is a celebration of what makes us human: love, laughter, desire, thought and sorrow, and it is a lament for this world we have consumed, a letter left from our "insignificant villages ... in a barren land where locks are unknown, / because there's nothing to steal," so that after we are gone "If anyone should pass, ... at least we'll still have our names."

About the Author

Nicola Vulpe was born in Montreal. He completed a doctorate in philosophy at the Sorbonne, and taught in Spain before settling in Ottawa. His poems and translations have appeared in journals such as Alba, The Antigonish Review, Carousel, The Ex-Puritan, The Manhattan Review, Mediterranean Poetry, Montréal Serai, Slush Pile Magazine, and Stand Magazine. He has also published a novella, The Extraordinary Event of Pia H., who turned to admire a chicken on the Plaza Mayor, and four previous collections of poetry, including, with Guernica, Insult to the Brain and Through the Waspmouth I Drew You, which both received Fred Cogswell Awards for Excellence in Poetry.