Robin Magowan's poems in Lilac Cigarette in a Wish Cathedral represent a poetry of heightened awarenesses and high-edge experiences caught on the run. Seized from a miniaturist's perspective, the subjects are privileged moments: a child mat-riding on a Red Flag day; birds in a tropical forest; Greek sailors dancing; a trek in the Himalayas; drug overdoses during an affair with a terrorist dragon lady; personal experiences that combine into an oeuvre and a life. Magowan's aim is to take the reader inside, as far as possible, using an instinctive notation to register his fascination with sensation, movement, and color. If it is mysticism--an awakening to the now--it is one that is happening line by line, and at times letter by letter, in a form that is lyrical, rhythm driven, and highly intensified.