Heidegger Looks at the Moon

Replete with floor traps and velvet curtains Haynes' theater-poems include Texas Mexico a conference in Tennessee a backyard barbecue and meeting rooms at work among their many interchangeable sets. You'll watch the duels of characters named alluded to and unnamed. You'll hear the ghosts of Dickinson Stevens Shakespeare and Berryman floating somewhere near the tracked lighting above the stage. Characters named include Heidegger of course Jack Ruby Cicero Medea Hurricane Dolly sometimes central sometimes walk-ons sometimes the costume and mask for the unnamed characters or the poet. And you'll recognize the unnamed characters those people at work vying for power and career advancement those writers at conferences needing acclaim. Always startling and unexpected part of the intrigue is wondering who will appear next and where at a Texas thrift shop perhaps? Tragedy and comedy mix. Acts of eloquent end-stopped lines meter rhyme and hard-won contemplations give us a glimpse beyond the human mess like a hawk Gliding with dignity unthought intent / Like part of the wind itself its weightless ascent.-Suzette Marie Bishop author of She Took Off Her Wings and Shoes (May Swenson Award) Horse-Minded and Hive-Mind teaches Poetry and Creative Writing at Texas A&M International UniversityWhether Heidegger ruminates on hopelessness and desperation in downtown Waco or Cicero rants at Cleopatra and Caesar Haynes's well-wrought phrasing and spontaneous wit enliven his speakers throughout Heidegger Looks at the Moon. These meditative poems span the emotional spectrum showing us a writer of uncommon observational power. The dissolution of Aristotelian form is found in a desert landscape blurred by rain Gadamer contemplates imagery from Wallace Stevens the line between the canine and the human is questioned. In this book of musical and philosophical poetry Haynes not only displays a radiant intellect but he also ushers us into the hauntings of human interiority revealing to us both marvels everywhere as well as the wounds the nurse of philosophy leaves.-C.H. Gorrie Editor at ConsequenceThese are wonderful poems. In the best poetic tradition they come alive and prod memories through elegant allusions to classical mythology literature and popular culture. Thinkers like Heidegger of course pop singers like Sam the Sham writers like Harry Crews common folk like Big Jake as well as literary classical biblical and historical characters populate the world found here. R.W. Haynes' masterful command of language and poetic forms inspires the reader to come on board and enjoy the ride and we are the richer for traveling along with the poet to Waco or Ft. Stockton crossing the Rio Grande with Charon and visiting imagined pasts or literary spaces with Oswald Alving or Chaucer.-Norma Elia Cantú Norine R. and T. Frank Murchison Professor of the Humanities Trinity University author of Canícula and numerous other works of prose and poetry