The poems in HEAVENLY BODIES deftly blend mythology, cosmology, and family romance (or are these all the same?) into a mix at once familiar and strange. Cool and precise, Weinraub's poems never miss a beat or waste a word.
—Rachel Hadas, author of River of Forgetfulness and Halfway Down the Hall.
Like the planets they contemplate, these poems, while rotating on their own axis, orbit around the stars of birth, desire, and death. Though they are transfixed by celestial rocks, they are also moved by the smell of quinces, pears, and apples. Cool alabaster on the outside, inside they are made of “Galilean sea.” This slender collection encompasses, to paraphrase Yeats, the heavens in a womb.
—Jee Leong Koh, Author of Payday Loans.
This is a book to remind us of the age-old task of the poet. The poems in HEAVENLY BODIES find in familiar words a genealogy that leads back to miracles and myths. Weinraub's wry association of ancient miracles and contemporary life refresh our language and sharpen the taste of experience.
—Peter Wood, Professor Emeritus, The College of New Jersey.
Read a review of this chapbook by New Jersey playwright, Richard L. Powell.
—Rachel Hadas, author of River of Forgetfulness and Halfway Down the Hall.
Like the planets they contemplate, these poems, while rotating on their own axis, orbit around the stars of birth, desire, and death. Though they are transfixed by celestial rocks, they are also moved by the smell of quinces, pears, and apples. Cool alabaster on the outside, inside they are made of “Galilean sea.” This slender collection encompasses, to paraphrase Yeats, the heavens in a womb.
—Jee Leong Koh, Author of Payday Loans.
This is a book to remind us of the age-old task of the poet. The poems in HEAVENLY BODIES find in familiar words a genealogy that leads back to miracles and myths. Weinraub's wry association of ancient miracles and contemporary life refresh our language and sharpen the taste of experience.
—Peter Wood, Professor Emeritus, The College of New Jersey.
Read a review of this chapbook by New Jersey playwright, Richard L. Powell.
 HEAVENLY BODIES Poems by Richard Marx Weinraub Illustrations by Roxanne Hoffman ISBN 978-0-9817678-4-0 (soft cover/19 pp.) $10.00 (+ $1.50 S&H) |
Related to the Marx Brothers through his mother, Richard Marx Weinraub was born in New York City in 1949. He was educated in New Jersey and Oregon, receiving an MFA and a PhD from the University of Oregon. Weinraub has been teaching literature and creative writing courses at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan since 1987. Some of his poems have recently appeared in Asbestos, CENTRO: Journal of the Center for Puerto Rican Studies, Faden, The Paris Review, POUI, Soul Fountain and Slate. A book of his poetry, a sonovella entitled Wonder Bread Hill, was published in 2002 by the University of Puerto Rico Press. It has been translated into Spanish by Elidio La Torre Lagares and the Spanish edition is forthcoming from Terranova Press.
Visit SLATE Magazine to read Richard Marx Weinraub's poem "The Ball of Earth and Heaven." |
