Silver medal winner, 2016 Independent Book Publishers Association Benjamin Franklin book awards
Winner of the Robert Frost Farm Prize and
the String Poet Prize
In the lyrical tradition of Robert Frost and Emily Dickinson, the finely crafted poems in Richard Meyer's debut collection
Orbital Paths
are brimming with wisdom and wit. Accessible and begging to be read out loud, these poems travel from the depths of outer space to the backyards and back roads of Minnesota with mature (and often playful) insights into nature, relationships, religion, sex, death, mythology, and more.
Praise for
"Meyer is a siren. Just try to put this collection down." -Nicole Helget, author of
Wonder at the Edge of the World
,
Stillwater
, and
The Summer of Ordinary Ways
"Richard Meyer's poems are a delight to read. Their rich language and metrical music draw us in...[T]he poet's eye moves easily from wash hanging on the clothesline to meteors screaming through space. Anchoring it all is a cosmic sense of humor. The effect is enchanting." -John Thavis, author of the
New York Times
bestseller
The Vatican Diaries
"[These] companionable poems begin in wisdom and end in delight." -David Yezzi, author of
Birds of the Air
"This is a seasoned debut collection that smoothly melds science, religion, and nature with wit and protean intelligence to achieve original insights and cosmic fun." -Alexander Pepple, Editor,
Able Muse
poetry review
"Witty, lightly philosophical, sonically pleasurable, Richard Meyer's poems will bring special joy to those with a taste for traditional verse." -David M. Katz, author of
Stanzas on Oz
Richard Meyer
inspired high school English and humanities students in southern Minnesota for thirty-two years while composing poetry of his own. He lives in his family home, the house his father built, in Mankato, a city at the bend of the Minnesota River. Meyer's poems have appeared in numerous journals and publications, including
Able Muse, Alabama Literary Review, Angle, Autumn Sky, The Classical Outlook, The Evansville Review, Light, Measure, New Verse News, The Raintown Review, String Poet,
and
Think
. Critically acclaimed for his poems "Fieldstone" (Robert Frost Farm Prize) and "The Autumn Way" (String Poet Prize), Meyer has also received top honors in the Great River Shakespeare Festival sonnet contest.
is Richard Meyer's first book of collected poems.