Music for Orphans - by Owen Andrews (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Music for Orphans explores memories and dreams of childhood and family, queer love and desire, the body in flower and in decline, and the natural world.

In these poems, a child has an unsettling first meeting with his mother's new lover; a herd of cows summons a poet to a dawn interview; a world capital falls into a dangerous trance; a horseshoe crab marches up a beach and through millennia to lay a clutch of eggs; young lovers pass lotus-eater seasons in a remote farmhouse; an older queer man confronts his unreasonable yearning for beauty beyond reach or need; and a lost engagement ring reveals outlines of a life framed by divorces.

Wherever Andrews takes us -- through life-shaping early moments, toxic encounters with American privilege, the life-long mysteries of Eros, the witnessing and comforting natural world -- his poems deliver images, lines, and insights that linger in readers' minds and reward re-reading.

About the Author

Owen Andrews studied English and American literature at Harvard College and the University of Virginia. Born near Philadelphia, he spent later childhood in western New York and early adulthood in rural Virginia. A career in publishing, consulting, and higher education has supported his work as a poet. He now lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts.