She is the sea,
wild and free. 

I know I could never
fully explore her expanse
and will most certainly
become lost in her waves forever,
yet with a torn sail and a smile,
I set sail anyhow.  

— Analog de Leon

There are fewer lies
I tell myself
more violent
than indifference. 

— Analog de Leon

— lightning — 

In waves
of yellow neurons
light connects the earth
to the heavens. 

I imagine the clouds
to be my head,
as my thoughts
fire electricity
down my spine,
and I imagine the ground
my body,
as my intention
spirals northward
toward the skyline.

— Analog de Leon

VERTIGO COVER POEM

— indigo —

I once heard a story about a man
who climbed a pillar,
at the center of the
highest hill in Syria.

From his vantage he could see
a line of people walking
willingly off the cliffs into the sea.
At the ledges he could see the kingdom’s
towers reaching high above but
hiding in the clouds like cowards.

And so the blind
led the blind into the chasm,
and the faithless led
the faithful into madness.
They say the high altitude
never broke him—,
                      v e r t i g o
could shake the
earth but not his focus.

— Analog de Leon

COVER POEM NOTES
This cover poem draws on Vertigo's greatest influence, St. Simeon Stylites, a Syriac monk who lived thirty-six years on a small platform on top of a pillar near Aleppo (in modern Syria) as a symbol for resistance to problems with his culture. Many more pillar protestors would follow his lead throughout the next few hundred years.

Vertigo is a pillar protest and a call to action. Our age is in desperate need of voices of resistance.

This cover poem's illustration by Analog de Leon and his sister Amy Purifoy, features Aleppo, a central city in Syria, before the bombings from recent wars that have left it desolate. Millions of people have lost their homes, their families, and their lives in Syria. Let us never forget them.


"Tear down this walled up sea."

About The Author 
Chris Purifoy (aka Analog de Leon) is a writer, a technology architect, and one of the pioneers of a global subculture of modern poetry. He speaks in global forums about the slippery slope of progress and the importance of art with purpose.

Chris is the Co-Founder of Lost Poets, an organization dedicated to this resistance, with leadership ranging from entertainment powerhouses such as Gregg Latterman, Founder of Aware Records (i.e. John Mayer), and global policy leaders such as Ana C. Rold, the Editor-at-Large of the G7 (formerly the G8) and the G20. 

Read Full Bio

PARTNERS
-- Publisher // Andrews McMeel
-- Distributor // Simon & Schuster
-- Agency // Waxman Leavell