Oakwood's Grove

NEW BOOK: Song of Berlin https://www.imperiumpress.org/shop/song-of-berlin/ WWII is the mythic event of our time, the centre of the West’s civic religion. Much has been written about it—histories, propaganda, poetry even. But nothing like this. In Song of Berlin, master poet Taerus Clavus Atellus casts the Battle of Berlin in the epic meter of the English language. Invoking no less a muse than Homer, we have here an epic poem running to fifteen books that tells of the heroism, sacrifice, and horror of the men on both sides of the conflict. Atellus sets these heroes locked in an epochal struggle in a twilight world of machines, gods, and titanic forces. In page after blood-soaked page, the poet breathes a raw intensity into the battle that only a veteran of war can. This is the central event that has shaped our world, sung as you’ve never heard it before. This is epic verse for our time. This is the Song of Berlin. https://www.imperiumpress.org/shop/song-of-berlin/

Very proud to announce the release of this book. It's been a long time coming, and it's somewhat surreal to finally have it out there for you all to see.

“The immortals do not die, even when they do die. Men come to be symbols, pieces in the great game.” ~Miguel Serrano

Thor's oak, Dartmoor. Painting by Greg Ramsden

Rest in peace, Mr. McCarthy.

Rest in peace Theodore.

Death and Opportunity The most difficult, and therefore the most pure and honest path to true wisdom is through grief. Never have I gleaned more knowledge of myself, what I want from life, what I value most than in the days and weeks following the death of someone close to me. When a terminal diagnosis was handed down to someone I held dear I found myself, after the initial shock and anxiety had subsided, envious of his position. He had been granted a beautiful gift, to know the way and the time that the end would come. What a magnificent opportunity. To right the wrongs in his life, to spend his every waking moment in pursuit of life and all it has to offer. Envy was quickly overtaken by anger and frustration when it became clear he was instead going to choose to wallow in misery and despair up to the moment dark death came swirling down before his eyes. I've had more than my fair share of loss, from family to friends gone too soon, but there is nothing more tragic than to allow seemingly senseless deaths be in vain by failing to grow from the experience. And far too often this is the case. Each of our lives are finite. Death will come to us all in one way or another. To float aimlessly from one day to the next, never drawing from the vast deep well of experience that is the cycle of birth, life, and death for some childish notion that if one ignores the reality of death hard enough they will escape it is the ultimate slap in the face of those we loved and lost. t.me/whiteoakwood