Missing the Moon

by Bin Ramke

Attempts to reach the moon, metaphorically and otherwise, are an ancient element of human imagination. With intrusions from mathematics and science, these poems are elegiac celebrations of various ambitions that miss the mark, but matter anyway. The poems sometimes center on events in the life of the poet or members of his family; sometimes on the geography, geology, and the histories accrued by local communities, human and otherwise; sometimes they center on historical figures reimagined―from Giacinto Scelsi to Alan Turing. But these poems are always about boundaries and barriers, crossed sometimes, ignored at peril. They are about distances that must be travelled.

Genres: Poetry

120 pages, Paperback

First published October 7, 2014

Reviews

[C. Varn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ramke's concern on the material world has increasingly unified his work during the aughts. "Missing the Moon" builds on this trend and uses reactions to both the physical and metaphorical moons. Ramke's three period structure here works with his use of quotations and layering of ideas. While this book does not break ground with Ramke's prior forms of poetic experimentation, it is a still a very strong effort from the poet. Furthermore, for those who find Ramke's poetic's alienating, the poems comment on how to approach them in lines like, “The breath obstructed becomes the poem.” Indeed, Ramke is not just a poet of layering but a subtextual poet where what is not said is almost as important as what is. This is a strong addition to his four decades of output.

[Carol Ciavonne · Rating 5 out of 5]

Ramke's blend of lyric and experimental poetry is lucid dreaming, just enough of each to keep a reader reading; the personal, beautiful and startling.