Astronaut [Paperback]

Brian Henry (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"With no one to stop my launch into panegyric, I take the warp and weft in my hands with plans to commandeer this vessel into a new hemisphere." Henry, co-editor of Verse magazine and Verse books and an assistant professor of English at the University of Georgia, breaks these 40 or so mostly page-length lyrics into three sections that reflect differing postures: "Doppelganger," "Bystander" and "Diviner." The speaker-as-bystander reports in from Dingle, Ireland; Short Pump, Va., and locations in between, while the Doppelganger retorts, "When I get the urge to shout deluge! I yell jugs! instead."
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Product Details

• Paperback: 72 pages
• Publisher: Carnegie Mellon Univ Pr (March 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0887483577
• ISBN-13: 978-0887483578
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.4 x 0.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,221,578 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Brian Henry is the author of eight books of poetry: Astronaut (short-listed for the Forward Prize), American Incident, Graft, Quarantine (winner of the Alice Fay di Castagnola Award), The Stripping Point, Wings Without Birds, Lessness, and Doppelgänger. His work has been translated into Croatian, Polish, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, and Slovenian, and his books have been translated into Slovenian and Serbian. He has co-edited Verse magazine since 1995. His translation of Tomaž Šalamun's Woods and Chalices appeared from Harcourt in 2008, and his translation of Ales Šteger's The Book of Things appeared from BOA Editions in 2010 and won the 2011 Best Translated Book Award.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Steel Drivin' Man!, April 25, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Astronaut (Paperback)

In this astonishing debut, poet Brian Henry recounts his epic battle with the steam engine. While he certainly was the best HUMAN driving rails for the R&R, the new fangled steel drivin' machine threatened to take over the business over a century ago. Brian Henry, with an eye to the lord and a hammer in his hand, challenged the steam engine to a duel of sorts on one sunny summer afternoon. He stood up to the mechanization of human labor. Neck and mechanical neck for the entire race, Henry pulled away just at the end to beat the Frankenengine. He sighed, drank a glass of milk, laid down his hammer and died. Or so we thought. He's back in this debut collection of poems and better than ever! Lord, lord, he was a steel drivin' man! To the boat and to the rocks! Buy the book and get a whole new take on a classic american myth!