New Messiahs

by Henry Israeli

All is in this book: our lives from hour to hour, the memories that define us, love, redemption...But in the end the question still remains: Who will come to bury / he who comes to bury me? Powerful, crystal clear, intimate and world-building, this book is testimony and proof that the miracle of our lives will continue. New Messiahs is the right title. Tomaz Salamun, winner of the Slovenian National Book Award
In Henry Israeli s debut book, we are still on the infamous train of the twentieth century, there s no getting off, and we re all responsible and helpless. Thankfully, however, these poems are noble memories of transformations, they allow that we are made of little bones that contemplation holds together. How the spirit carries the wounded body around in here! You can feel the real wind rage, feel yourself tested. Jane Miller, winner of a Lila Wallace Reader's Digest Award and a Guggenheim Fellowship"

Genres: Poetry

78 pages, Paperback

First published October 1, 2002

About the author

Henry Israeli’s poetry collections are Our Age of Anxiety (White Pine, Fall 2019) god’s breath hovering across the waters, (Four Way Books: 2016), Praying to the Black Cat (Del Sol: 2010), and New Messiahs (Four Way Books: 2002). He is also the translator of three books by Albanian poet Luljeta Lleshanaku. He has been awarded fellowship grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Canada Council on the Arts, and elsewhere. His poetry and translations have appeared in numerous journals including American Poetry Review, Boston Review, Harvard Review, The Iowa Review, as well as several anthologies. Henry Israeli is also the founder and editor of Saturnalia Books (www.saturnaliabooks.com). He is Associate Professor of English and Associate Director of the Certificate in Writing & Publishing Program at Drexel University in Philadelphia. Visit www.henryisraeli.com for more details.

Reviews

[Donald Armfield]

I came across Henry Israeli in an anthology of "Dead and Undead" poems. His style picks up right where I remember it...

Of the entire collection the opening section should be read by far.

-"Death of the Dictator
-Pedaling
-Four A.M. Eastern
-Trusted Messenger
-Anecdote from the Interrogation
-Newsreel
-Delivery

Henry Israeli is a poet that needs to be read.

[Michael]

from New Messiahs by Henry Israeli:


Tupelo, Mississippi

The parade is followed by a
soft click

so quiet it might mean the end
of someone's world: Mother waves
the confederate flag

stapled to a long toothpick
as if she could reach the buxom white queen

and prick her in the eye.

The red rooster float cock-a-doodle-
doos down First Avenue.

A yellow mist covers

the garden but lifts whenever anyone
looks.

Nothing is wrong in Mississippi.

Clouds dream
wet dreams. Boys
on Chevy hoods

crack jokes.

The wind makes a chewing noise.