The Eleusinian Mysteries

“Isaac Wheeler discusses myth with the kind of easy scorn one might use when spreading rumors. He embellishes detail using the terrifying lens of comic realism while harshly criticizing the gendered problematics of old words. Like Homero Aridjis, Wheeler knows the danger of an untouched story whose antiquated drama is often allowed to inhabit a changing world looking to reinterpret its values. Ultimately, Wheeler is a poet of dry wit. His careful eye and penchant for language at once beautiful and as casual as a Carlin-esque monologue make the heavy topic of this book immediately engaging. I think this remarkable text could easily become a modern reference point for the Persephone myth.”
—Brian Sheffield, performance poet and co-founder of Mad Gleam Press

“Persephone, sexy pop princess, mistress of life and death, returns from Hades to post-Soviet Russia with a plan to conquer the universe. By turns ecstatic and debauched, this book is like nothing else in the landscape of contemporary poetry. Read it. It will rewire your brain.”
—Maud Burnett McInerney, Professor of English and Comparative Literature at Haverford College

“The Eleusinian Mysteries offers a great deal: with precision and intensity, Isaac Stackhouse Wheeler readily assumes the mantle of a tradition beyond fashion. Sure-footed, philosophical, and cultivated, the poet carefully carves a whole and homogenous vision, harmoniously rounded, while his bracing images evoke, in contrast, a thrill of terror. From Classical Greece to the Soviet Union, elegance and candor cohabitate, contoured and defined. Wheeler, observant and comfortable in the vastest of imaginary spaces, uses language as a means to an end with deftness and—what’s more—talent.”
—Andreea Iulia Scridon, translator and author of HOTARE