Moon Talk by Wade Stevenson

The title of this book conjures the phrase “pillow talk”, the whispered secrets of lovers. It unfolds in slim, careful stanzas and draws on associations with the moon to convey romantic love. “Nude nothing of my whiteness / How you tremble / When I almost touch you.” When the lovers depart, beauty and terror converge in a particularly haunting image: “The moon a phantom ship in flames / Without anchor, without time.” A worthy ode that discovers a musing, intense lexicon…magic.”

—Kirkus Reviews

“Moon Talk” provides a powerful example of form, usage, poetic license, and interactions between poet/writer and audience. By taking one (long) poem and deconstructing it line by line, “Moon Talk” achieves what few other literary studies provide: a thorough, in-depth analysis of the poet’s toolbox. “Moon Talk” is especially recommended for poets, students and classrooms studying creative writing and the evolution of meaningful free verse.

— D. Donovan, Senior Editor, the Midwest Book Review

“What a remarkable little book!”

— Donna White, Director, Brighton Place Library

“Moon Talk” is a lyrical rumination on the moon as myth and symbol. The poems and accompanying metatext bring the reader on a contemplative walk through the lunar cycle. Moon Talk is symphonic in scope and unique in its genre.”

—Geoffrey Gatza, author of “Apollo” and “The House of Forgetting”

William Carlos Williams wrote it is always proper to talk about the moon. Rite about the moon: “Moon Talk” by Wade Stevenson, a hypnotic tide rocks within the waves of this book, the power of the tide, forces push and pull throughout “Moon Talk”, the talk that rocks and swaddles the ear with heart.

—Michael Basinski, Curator, The Poetry Collection, The University of Buffalo

“Moon Talk” is a sweeping poem of love and loss, desire and consummation, of androgynous force and mystical identity. Erotic, transformative, mythic, corporeal, “Moon Talk” concedes no boundaries between the poet, the moon, and his lover.”

—Bookscover2cover.com

In Wade Stevenson’s “Moon Talk”, astronomy becomes a point of entry to compelling questions about romantic relationships. Even when separated by the entirety of the night sky is it possible to discern subject from object? Should love be a matter of distance or proximity? When does separation allow the light of the stars to shine? As Stevenson teases out possible answers to these questions, he offers us a graceful matching of form and content. His most subtle stylistic choices illuminate the ambitious and unflinching discussions that take place within this exciting collection

—Kristina Marie Darling, author of “Scorched Altar: Selected Poems & Stories 200-2014.”

“Moon Talk”: it made me think about the poets during the medieval ages when they fell in love with their lady, during the days of chivalry. I also thought about the Petrarchan sonnet and how the subject was mostly about love. Then I read the metatext again and then the poem and started my own deconstruction of the poem. (I also read through the quotes.) I thought what was most interesting about the metatext was the poet, through the deconstruction, talked to his audience through the poet’s persona, almost like a double persona. By the time I finished reading “Moon Talk” a few times, I felt as if the subject and object had become one, that his lover had become absorbed into the poet, not in a sexual way, but he had become whole because of the experience of his losing her. He had gained himself. A lyrical and elegiac work of art.

—Sandra Squire Fluck, author of “Evening Muse”

For centuries the moon has captured our imagination, influenced our bodies, and penetrated our dreams in all her evanescent, full and mysterious glory. “Moon Talk” by Wade Stevenson, a metaphorical tribute to the golden glowing orb, dances like the moon herself between the dark and light, the fixed and fungible, a chiaroscuro of our favorite heavenly body.

—P.J. Lazos, author of “The Quality of Light”

“Moon Talk” is about love and romantic relationships and the poet is completely immersed in its lyricism — the pain, the sorrow, the grief, but also the ecstasy.

—Bookscover2cover.com

Wade Stevenson was born in New York City in 1945. He is the author of several books of poetry, a memoir One Time in Paris and a novel, The Electric Affinities.

Book Information:

· Paperback: 110 pages

· Binding: Perfect-Bound

· Publisher: BlazeVOX [books] 

· ISBN: 978-1-60964-248-8

$16

Moon Talk by Wade Stevenson… by Geoffrey Gatza