Crafted as a long poem, a libretto for stage presentations, "The Gospel according to Clarence Thomas" is less about Clarence Thomas than it is about the devastating reign of the Bush administration. The central idea of the book is: 'War is an Evil product of Evil/Hypocritical Minds'. The 'Chorus of the Homeless' occupies a central role in the poem, performing a function much like the Chorus in Greek Tragedies, providing a reasonably objective commentary. In a sense, the central story is a tragedy too - George Bush is a tragic figure. And, towards the end, he is conceived as a tragic hero, a Samson-like figure who pulls down the temple over his head to crush the Philistines. (Samson, by the way, was history's first 'suicide-bomber').

Contributors are: Adelle Foley, Molly Peacock, Franz Douskey, Anne Marie Macari, David, Jay Parini, Stephen Sandy, Ralph James Savarese, Richard Wibur, Jan Heller Levi, Julio Marzán, Charles Pratt, Frederick Feirstein, Samuel Hazo, Michael Collier, Greg Delanty, Dick Allen, Robert Bagg, Diana der-Hovanessian, Wendell Berry, John Drexel, Clayton Eshleman, Jack Foley, Margaret Gibson, Judith Hall, Michael Harper, Richard Harteis, William Heyen, Ben Howard, X.J. Kennedy, Caroline Knox, Maxine Kumin, David Lehman, Gardner McFall. David McKain, Jane Mead, Kevin McGrath, Joan Alesire William Meredith, Alicia Ostriker, Marge Piercy, David Ray, Judy Ray, F.D. Reeve, Ira Sadoff, Richard Schaaf, James Scully, Vivian Shipley, Robert Siegel, W.D. Snodgrass, Lucien Stryk, Thom Tammaro, Michael Waters, Cecilia Woloch, and Matthew Zapruder.Ashis Gupta, the editor of this collection, is a novelist and the publisher of Bayeux Arts, Inc. Ashis holds a doctorate in English Literature from Boston University, and has taught in many parts of the world. He lives in Calgary, Alberta.

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