A Symbolic Journey Toward Selfhood

Grounded in the musical traditions of Blues narratives, Carbuncle Resurrectrix: Antar, Miss Liberty, and the Prince of Pigs is the second volume in a series featuring the fictive poet/songwriter, Artz Carbuncle. Stylistically, the poem’s three movements range beyond the personal lyrics of the first volume (The Ballad of Artz Carbuncle) to engage traditions of narrative and dramatic poetry while still extending the personal narrative initiated in the Ballad. Antar’s Children, the first of the three narratives in Resurrectrix, presents Artz’s travels down the East Coast with aging Blues artist Antar Jones. The second section, Miss Liberty’s Dreams, recounts his interactions with an elderly patient in a North Carolina mental facility. The third section, Songs for the Prince of Pigs, presents a short series of poems centered on the death of Shakespeare’s son, Hamnet. The three narratives examine issues of race, gender, and elite cultural dominance in American experience. Their sequence echoes Carl Jung’s archetypal psychology of individuation and the construction of an authentic self.

Ty Bouldin: A native West Virginian, Ty Bouldin began writing seriously in the late 1960’s as a college junior at Concord College in Athens, WV. After graduating with a degree in English and minors in History and Philosophy, Bouldin spent two years at various short-term jobs before returning to school for a Masters Degree at Miami University of Ohio in 1970. In 1972 he began teaching English composition and introductory literature courses at West Virginia State College, where he designed classes in the traditional sources of contemporary American song-poetry, the work of Bob Dylan, and other relevant aspects of contemporary American literature. Following work on a PhD in Communication and Rhetoric from RPI, Bouldin and his wife moved to Tucson, AZ where he taught and served as a facilitator for The University of Arizona’s Writing Program. He and his wife retired in 2003, returning to their homeplace in southern West Virginia.