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MECHANOPHILIA

SARAH BURGOYNE
& VI KHI NAO

Using the numerical structure of pi (3.1415), Mechanophilia is a collaborative epic poetry manuscript by the American poet Vi Khi Nao and Canadian poet Sarah Burgoyne that follows the omniscient voluble conversations and complaints of ad hoc biblical characters as they attempt to make sense of themselves on an ordered, disordered planet. Nao and Burgoyne, who have never met, began this project after discovering a mutual love of math and collaborations that never end. With four volumes presently completed, Mechanophilia represents the first 1000 digits of pi (and the first of four volumes). Anachronistic in proportion, this collection attempts to queer and rewrite myths in precise, restrictive numerical pi chronology, yet its verses remain free and ludic, time-travelling at will and often looping in present-day figures (Elon Musk, Lady Gaga, Cai Guo-Qiang, Phoebe Philo, Virgil Abloh, Donald Trump) and concerns. Feministic, irreverent, and supremely loquacious, Mechanophilia presents infinity as something reachable yet unrelated to linear time.

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ANVIL PRESS FALL 2023

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