Ascend Ascend was written in and out of trance states secluded in a 100-year-old church tower. Equally Walt Whitman and Maggot Brain, this book documents the ecstatic destruction of the self through its union with the divine.

*First confirmed blurbs include Jimmy Page from Led Zeppelin and Peter Maravalis from City Lights Books. More to come. * Ascend Ascend is poet Janaka Stucky's second book for Third Man Books. His first book THE TRUTH IS WE ARE PERFECT sold over 2000 copies and continues to sell. * First run of Ascend Ascend will be 5000 *Janaka Stucky is also owner/editor/founder of the respect, small poetry press Black Ocean. * He is the editor of the journal Handsome. * In 2010 he was voted "Boston's Best Poet" in the Boston Phoenix. *Ascend Ascend is a book length, ecstatic poem heavily steeped in occult and jewish mysticism. * An excellent live performer, Janaka will be touring the US, UK, and Europe. * Written over the course of twenty days, coming in and out of trance states brought on by intermittent fasting and somatic rituals while secluded in the tower of a 100-year-old church, Ascend Ascend is equal parts Walt Whitman and Maggot Brain, documenting the ecstatic destruction of the self. *The Introduction will be written by writer, teacher, respected occultist Pam Grossman whose work has been featured in Artforum, The New York Times, The New Yorker, and Art in America. She is the curator of Phantasmaphile and also host of the Witch Wave podcast * The cover art will be illustrated by Aaron Horkey who has done work for bands such as Isis and The Melvins. He is the owner/curator of thevacvvm.com. His Instagram has over 194k followers.

[Excerpt from ASCEND ASCEND by Janaka Stucky] I ascend with agony caparisoned by poppies By black stars and the shivering Tissue of vice I ascend with agony Drinking fever Drinking storms My storms Drinking storms I ascend Into the sky like a bronze gate I ascend Sky like a roofless church With birds of flame Perched along its rim I ascend Sky like great teeth of the sea Rabid with lilacs of foam I ascend Sky like a blade Of light cutting The umbilical cord of I I ascend Sky like primordial honey I ascend Sky like mellifluous rot I ascend Sky like a garden Dug with the white edge of a scream I ascend Sky my dark wings beating The fountain the flood That comes before the abyss I ascend I ascend My sky my hour my night My gleaming needle haloed ascending I ascend Sky like the death of juniper Quivering in the clitoral spell of sleep Sky that wakes like acacias Blind from the cradled soil Sky like a great and boundless longing Setting fire to itself ascending I ascend I ascend I ascend with agony a blackbird egg Hatching in the alcove of a lion’s jaw I ascend with agony devoured and spiraling Upwards into countless crowns I ascend with agony summoning A plague of flowers white blood swirling From their indestructible glistening Cheeks I ascend I ascend with agony lifted alone By the memory of milk I ascend I ascend with agony my guillotine Of laughter raised high above The neck of the wind ascending I ascend I ascend through an omega Of astonishment I ascend with agony carved from the wind by The knife that bears my sign I ascend with agony In the solstice of humiliation I shall love I shall love I shall love I ascend in the bright flame of marigolds I shall love I shall love I ascend