Europa's Lover

Europa's Lover is a new long poem celebrating Europe and European culture. In the poem Europa is the mother of Europe, its daughters, wife, sisters, nieces, lover and companion. 'She is also her own mother, daughters, wife, etc,' writes Douglas Dunn. 'If this sounds a lunatic faith in femininity, then so be it. I've seen her in dreams and felt her to be present in places which are sacred to me. What happens in the poem is that Europa invites a young man to join her. He does so; he meditates, makes speeches, and she talks to him. Otherwise the poem is about Things in General. It embodies a certain respect for the values of the West, in spite of its terrors, mistakes, humiliations and decline.'