Mad Magellan's Tale

Bert Almon is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
the author of Calling Texas and Earth Prime.

This book rather obscurely explores contemporary life, using the voyage
of Magellan as a loose framework. Much of the time the analogy with
Magellan drops out of sight. The style is generally flat and the line
lengths are monotonously short (many lines are only one word long).
There are occasional brilliant phrases, like “the forensic sun” in a
poem of the same title. Unfortunately, the same poem goes on to mention
“the niggers of nostalgia.” When Tourtidis strains for a strong
effect he sounds a bit like Leonard Cohen, but he lacks Cohen’s
self-critical humor. Like Magellan, Tourtidis is a casualty on his own
voyage.