This new anthology of 100 classic poems about Outer Space has just been published by Cambridge University Press with my translation from Mayan of Ah Bam’s “Those Who Build Houses and Temples”

It is included in chronological order between poems by Chaucer and Michelangelo.

Poets and astronomers often ask the same questions. Where did we come from? Why are we here? Where are we going? Throughout human history, poetry has provided stories about what people observe in the sky. Stars, planets, comets, the moon, and space travel are used as metaphors for our feelings of love, loneliness, adventurousness, and awe. This anthology includes poets, astronomers, and scientists from the 12th century BCE to today, from all around the world. Sappho, Du Fu, Hafez, and Shakespeare are joined by Gwyneth Lewis’s space requiem, Tracy K. Smith on the Hubble telescope, and Charles Simic, whose poem accompanied a NASA mission. Astronomers Tycho Brahe and Edmund Halley accompany modern scientists including Rebecca Elson, Alice Gorman on the first woman in space, and Yun Wang’s space journal on travel to Andromeda. This collection reaches across time and cultures to illuminate how we think about outer space, and ourselves

 Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cambridge University Press; New edition (December 15, 2022)

Language ‏ : ‎ English

Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 196 pages

ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1009203606

ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1009203609 

$17.00