Map to the Stars

by Adrian Matejka

A resonant new collection of poetry from Adrian Matejka, author of The Big Smoke, a finalist for The Pulitzer Prize and the National Book Award

Map to the Stars, the fourth poetry collection from National Book Award and Pulitzer Prize finalist Adrian Matejka, navigates the tensions between race, geography, and poverty in America during the Reagan Era. In the time of space shuttles and the Strategic Defense Initiative, outer space is the only place equality seems possible, even as the stars serve to both guide and obscure the earthly complexities of masculinity and migration. In Matejka's poems, hope is the link between the convoluted realities of being poor and the inspiring possibilities of transcendence and escape--whether it comes from Star Trek, the dream of being one of the first black astronauts, or Sun Ra's cosmic jazz.

Genres: Poetry, College, Race, 21st Century

128 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2017

About the author

Adrian Matejka was born in Nuremberg, Germany but grew up in California and Indiana. He is a graduate of Indiana University and the MFA program at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. His first collection of poems, The Devils Garden, won the 2002 Kinereth Gensler Award from Alice James Books. His second collection, Mixology, was a winner of the 2008 National Poetry Series and was published by Penguin Books in 2009. Mixology was subsequently nominated for an NAACP Image Award. He is a Cave Canem fellow and is the recipient of two Illinois Arts Council Literary Awards. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in American Poetry Review, The Best American Poetry 2010, Crab Orchard Review, Gulf Coast, Pleiades, and Prairie Schooner among other journals and anthologies. He teaches at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville where he serves as Poetry Editor for Souwester."

Reviews

[Matt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this collection a lot more interested in biography than poetry-- a lot about the seventies, the space program, being black in Indiana. But not a whole lot more than that, even to the point of not quite making a case for why the elements of the poet's life are significant beyond their status as facts. It's not a bad book, and it's probably a pretty light read if you're wary of poetry. But it lacked the kind of fireworks I was hoping for.

[e · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re interested in sci-fi, space and the experience of being black in Indiana in the 80s, you’ll love this.
I don’t have a magic interest in sci-fi or space particularly so not totally for me but still amazing writing!!

[Danny Caine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrian Matejka’s Map to the Stars could share a tagline with the state of Kansas: ad astra per aspera, to the stars through difficulty. The dazzling poetry collection, Matejka’s fourth, finds a young black boy, first in urban Indianapolis and then in an unnamed suburb, longing to escape his difficult circumstances into the cosmos. That longed-for but never-arriving escape always takes many celestial forms, from Parliament/Funkadelic’s Mothership to America’s first black astronaut Guion Bluford, from Sun Ra to Star Trek reruns, from records that orbit like planets to simply looking up through a basketball hoop at the stars. I would’ve loved any book featuring poems about Prince and poems about Space Shuttles, but this one was way better than I expected. It’s a thoughtful, funny, and energetic exploration of what space means to the imagination of those who will never reach it. Map to the Stars is one of the best poetry collections I’ve read in recent memory.

Recommended by Danny

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a stunning and powerful book--rich and moving and fresh on every single page. It propels the reader into a vibrant and full world the way the best novels do, and has the feel of some of my favorite works of fiction and memoir. There's at least one spot on in every poem where I had to stop and re-read, and re-read again, and just plain admire the writing. This is one of the best collections I've read, and I'll be recommending it everywhere.

[Courtney LeBlanc · Rating 4 out of 5]

A collection of poems about race, identity, poverty, growing up Black in America, and the stars and universe.

from Star-Struck Blacks: "lights move on the horizon lowly the way cop lights / always move to wherever black people collect // outside of church. All this fast stereotyping / like the manicured fingers in the steno pool where // those same cops linger, badges shining & hats under / arms before testifying that they shot in self-defense."

from How to Choose the Next City: "Always next, always tuck on the crest of the court // while the real ballers dribbled & jawed behind / relentless smack talk about busted jumpers, knock-off // shoes, mamas & their respective fatness—all / tangled in sweaty pageantry as glimmering // & sticky as the mall jewelry they borrowed / from each other to shine up for the girls pretending // they weren't watching. A little city of gleaming / gallantry that I was too broke to get a spot in."

[Craig Werner · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kind of how you might imagine Langston Hughes if his musical points of reference had been P-Funk, Sun Ra and EPMD with a little bit of disco echoing around and Fleetwood Mac competing with Prince once the (I'm assuming autobiographical) persona moves to the Indianapolis suburbs. Matejka's feet are firmly on the ground of the basketball courts and sidewalks of Indy (except when he gets run off the road on his bike by a racist driver or gets whipped upside the head by a cop). But he's always thinking about the cosmos, ordering a scale model solar system model (that never arrives), idolizing black astronaut Guion S. Bluford, or just keeping his head to the sky.

[Sarah Lain · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a profound lesson in motif. Significant historical figures emerge throughout the text, as does the theme of poverty. Poverty is juxtaposed with the constant looking up and out toward celestial possibilities. Essential reading for understanding real historical and emotional context of America. Also: this text is music. It demands to be read aloud, the sounds genuinely taken in-- and heard.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Thoroughly original, unpretentious and understatedly thoughtful collection from the Indiana University professor, whose work I'm growing to admire like whoa. So many currents of mundane profundity running through these poems. Matejka speaks to Prince, Star Trek reruns on the telly, basketball, growing up an Indianapolite, space and its stars – hence the title, in part – and so much more. I'll always look for what this poet and thinker does next.

[Sarah Buzz · Rating 3 out of 5]

After taking a poetry writing class, I find myself judging collections for more than just what I think of the poems without critiquing. Now, I can't help but critique style. I didn't know what the topic of these poems were prior to starting. Adrian brings big issues to light here, and it is powerful, but the style of his writing just doesn't do it for me.

[hh · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5

[Karen · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5! review soon

[Stephanie Gibson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Adrian Matejka is an amazing poet! This book was a delight! I was even lucky enough to hear him read some of the poems in 2020 at the University of Indianapolis. Thanks for signing my book!

[Sarah Rearigh · Rating 3 out of 5]

After taking a poetry writing class, I find myself judging collections for more than just what I think of the poems without critiquing. Now, I can't help but critique style. I didn't know what the topic of these poems were prior to starting. Adrian brings big issues to light here, and it is powerful, but the style of his writing just doesn't do it for me.

[Edward · Rating 5 out of 5]

I posted my review on American Microreviews & Interviews. This guy is a super poet.

[KarnagesMistress]

I received this book for free through Goodreads Giveaways.

[Brendan]

Rating: 3 1/2

A lot of poetry about growing up in Indianapolis and then a suburb, poor and then middle-class, black or half-black, basketball, space: Voyager 2, Guion Bluford, wanting to be an astronaut, stars, etc. References to Richard Pryor, Jean Michel Basquiat, Sun Ra, EPMD, and the Vietnam War. He uses a lot of similes, but they're interesting ones.

I didn't get much from the first 20 pages or so. There was another dry spell of about 40 pages that started around the middle. It's a decent read though.

Favorites:
"Beat Boxing"
"Boxing Out"
"Welcome Back to Earth"
"Trumpets Up in Here" - after a Basquiat painting - Miles Davis

... There are six different colors
of black in calligraphy, but the only black north
of 56th Street is us....
- "New Developments"

My story is not part of history.
Because history repeats itself.
- "Antique Blacks" (quoting Sun Ra)