(AA) AXIS & ALLIES: Introduction
Serializing
Damo Bullen’s
Epic poem
AXIS & ALLIES
Throughout
2024 & 2025
in
91 Cantos
Being
An Account
of the
Reign of Mars
in the
Kali Yuga
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Time is the master of the universe. Time is the root of history. No one can prevent the march of Time or what it brings. I will now tell you what Time is going to bring in the future – the evils of the Kali Age
Vyasa
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Epic poetry is a gateway to the most highest & excellent truths of human experience. To convey such a thing, its authors must elevate their language while educating its hearers, all the while adding to the prestige of a nation.
My own epic poem, Axis & Allies has been the work of my life. Beginning in Brighton, 1999, it has both escorted & driven me across the planet in the pursuit of its creation. Four years ago, on the Greek island of Samothraki, I thought I’d formally completed the poem, as I saw it then, & as this video attests;
An Olympiad later, or so, I resum’d my task, focusing this year on the central cantica, concerning the build up to, & the actualisation of, the Second World War. This video shows me at the very start of the poem’s latest composition period;
This next video was filmed January 18th, 2024, & shows me adding flavour to the stanza notes from events 1930-36.
The next video was film’d just a few days before the start of the Chinese new year (I’m a Fire Dragon)
The next video was film’d in Arran on the day I finalised the poem’s architectronics
The next video was film’d in Calabria, with about 50 tryptychs to go
The next video was film’d in Edinburgh within touching distance of completing the poem
The next video was filmed in Glen Rosa, Arran, August 30th 2024, moments after completing the pen & ink version of the poem
After editing Axis & Allies, I’d realised I was 3 stanzas short – so I set off one bright winter’s morning to (finally) complete my epic, not far from my residence in Brodick, on Arran
With the poem finally finish’d, it was time to move house…
…But then there was one more stanza to compose, somewhere near the bones of Dante
& then, at last, Dante’s Tomb
Mumble Words 