In this classic of decadent poetics, the dark, troubled vision of Charles Baudelaire lives, growing like a tangled rosebush of prickling thorns, bringing the Satanic majesty of a fallen world into the metrical regularity of his poisoned pen verse. A French master every bit the equal of the gothic tragedian Poe, Baudelaire's "Flowers" encompasses and exposes a world of titanic grief and ultimate grace, wasted love and bitter, dark remonstrance. What are the dark, ugly byways and hidden, corrupt nooks of the human experience? A sweeping masterpiece of literary song. Online bookstore: www.lulu.com/zem66