What should we believe in? In Made Beautiful by Use, Sean Horlor tackles issues of belief by questioning whether it's possible for anyone to be conscious, compassionate, and ethical in a twenty-first-century world. Whether it is St. Joan before the walls of Orleans or St. George returning to the world as George W. Bush, here are some of the West's greatest stories retold from a contemporary perspective. Here we have the Dark-Ages St. Brendan in a series of poems that focus on a search for higher levels of consciousness acted out during St. Brendan's legendary voyage across the Atlantic juxtaposed with a series of George W. Bush satires that explore societal ethics and avoidance of social responsibility in favour of ideology.
Horlor's hagiographies, praises, and virtues are set in a milieu that is contemporary and streetwise, aware of homelessness, drug cultures, sexuality, and consumerism. Belief, therefore, is not set among the liturgical pieties of the Church, but in the grittiness of the world itself, where belief is breached, found, and confirmed. Can what we believe in be reduced to signs that prove existence? Made Beautiful by Use questions what constitutes faith in a time when too many have stopped believing.
About the Author: Sean Horlor was born in Edmonton and lived in Victoria for many years before making Vancouver his home. After earning a BFA from the University of Victoria, he worked in a number of public relations positions, including as a speechwriter in the Premier's office of British Columbia. He currently works in the public relations field in Vancouver. He also models and continues to write poetry and articles for a variety of publications. After a number of unsuccessful career attempts, such as a go-go dancer, a corporate executive, a William Shatner fan, and a professional heckler, Horlor realized poetry is his calling. He has published his poetry widely in literary journals, including Arc, Event, The Fiddlehead, Grain, Pine Magazine, THIS Magazine, The Claremont Review, Inner Harbour Review, and The Malahat Review. His poem "In Praise of Beauty" won first place in This Magazine's 2006 Great Canadian Literary Hunt and was an Editor's Choice in Arc's International Poem of the Year contest. Made Beautiful by Use is his first collection of poetry.
