{"id":133,"date":"2016-05-04T23:08:24","date_gmt":"2016-05-04T23:08:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/?p=133"},"modified":"2016-05-04T23:08:24","modified_gmt":"2016-05-04T23:08:24","slug":"space-traveler-by-benjamin-s-grossberg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/?p=133","title":{"rendered":"Space Traveler by Benjamin S. Grossberg"},"content":{"rendered":"

Space Traveler<\/em> by Benjamin S. Grossberg. Tampa: University of Tampa Press, 2014. 130 pages. $14, paper.<\/p>\n

Space Traveler<\/em>, Benjamin S. Grossberg\u2019s third full-length poetry collection, revolves around the journey of the stoic and perceptive Space Traveler. The book is split into six sections, each poem a tightly compacted rocket ship filled with the delightful energy of the speaker\u2019s articulate psyche; each poem fires up quickly and takes off with clever precision.<\/p>\n

Space Traveler<\/em> is a knockout for Grossberg, who has busted out of his shell into a mature, outgoing poet-thinker. His previous two collections represented a poet very much entrenched in the Earth: water, soil, vegetation, but also mindfulness; he courageously put himself into his work through philosophical and classical dilemmas of the mind, heart-wrenching frustration of sexual and familial relationships, and even humor. In this collection, Grossberg reworks those strengths into poems that execute skillful ironic tension: a speaker who is estranged from the human world but turns out to be intensely human himself. Grossberg plays with a new kind of ecosystem that is both abstract and concrete, and he pulls it off wonderfully.<\/p>\n

A fundamental strength of Space Traveler<\/em> is the use of plainspoken language, which serves as the engine for many of the poems. Casual voice is a new element in Grossberg\u2019s work; it punches up this collection significantly. What works particularly well is the way in which several poems begin with a conversational burst. Here are some first lines: \u201cNo hoax. They just didn\u2019t \/ hang around very long \u2026,\u201d or \u201cIt was me. An accident,\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m not laughing at you. Really.\u201d However, the true genius of this plainspoken style occurs when the Space Traveler speaks to the reader like a friend over a cup of coffee and then cleverly slips in thoughtful musings. The best example happens in \u201cThe Oil Spill,\u201d when the Space Traveler says,<\/p>\n

It\u2019s all right. My species ruined
\nour planet, too. Chewed it, gouged it,
\nstewed it in any of a dozen flavors
\nof port, then ate it on toast. When all
\nwas said and done, damn near
\na billion of us stood back to back
\non a tiny island, surrounded
\nby floating towers of plastic\u2014
\nskyline of blues, greens, yellows, reds
\nbleaching in sunlight, and squadrons
\nof tern-like creatures circling above us,
\nsquawks deafening. \u2026<\/p>\n

This passage excels in conversation, music and precise image. The engaging banter in the first two lines works stunningly, but the phrase \u201cdamn near\u201d is achingly perfect. Conversational tone is everything here, employed ironically to talk about the environmental destruction of a planet. Further down, the Space Traveler elaborates: \u201cYou do your best to halt the black \/ hemorrhage, pinching your side \/ between thumb and forefinger. Good luck.\u201d Again, the tone is spot-on, well timed, and humorous, as it is all throughout Space Traveler<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Perspective is another great element of Space Traveler<\/em>. Poem titles are repeated throughout the collection, which creates the feeling of multiple realities. \u201cHome,\u201d \u201cWandering,\u201d \u201cEarth,\u201d \u201cHis Husband,\u201d \u201cHe Pities Humans,\u201d \u201cBlack Holes,\u201d \u201cThe Promised Planet,\u201d and \u201cHeaven\u201d are all repeated titles; this is a smart move on Grossberg\u2019s part because the twin poems create extra layers of meaning. For example, in \u201cWandering,\u201d the reader experiences two perspectives on how the Space Traveler views his departure from Earth. In the first \u201cWandering,\u201d the last lines of the poem employ relief and humor laced with pain:<\/p>\n

When my afterburn ignited
\nwhat was left of the place, I
\nallowed myself a small smile. Then
\nI set the toaster for deep
\nspace. It didn\u2019t ding for years.<\/p>\n

However, in the second version of \u201cWandering,\u201d the tone changes:<\/p>\n

\u2026 There was
\na field that was my home, a world
\nI understood in the long silences
\nof its dawns. Now there\u2019s this:
\nstars thick and old as fire. In all
\ntheir history, none have cracked
\nopen, no golden thread of roots
\nunwinding beneath them.<\/p>\n

The Space Traveler cannot dissect this new system; he spends the rest of the book attempting to articulate that challenge through an endless series of perspectives.<\/p>\n

Later in the book, other space travelers appear. The reader discovers how the Space Traveler views himself in relation to them. In the poem \u201cMeaning,\u201d the Space Traveler grapples with the difficulty of self-perspective:<\/p>\n

In the distance, space travelers
\nlounge on deck chairs and sip
\nfruity drinks through long straws.
\nThey\u2019re not even sweating.
\nThey either know more than I do
\nor have found more pleasant ways
\nto know the same things.
\nBut then I realize it\u2019s also possible
\nthey look at me through their own
\ngritted-up fishbowls, imagining
\na little Acapulco where cabana
\nboys fan me, bring me ice
\nshavings sticky with peach juice.<\/p>\n

One of Grossberg\u2019s strengths as a poet is his willingness to acknowledge and inhabit emotional and physical vulnerability. In this passage, other travelers are included in this conversation, turning vulnerability into a universal feeling.<\/p>\n

Space Traveler<\/em> thrives on emotional and philosophical depth, but it is also an empowering book. Venturing into the unknown can be frightening and isolating, but also highly gratifying. An empowered voice shines through in \u201cEarth,\u201d \u201cThe Promised Planet,\u201d and \u201cHis Duende\u201d (which also cleverly flirts with the idea of annihilation), but the desire for autonomy is the strongest in \u201cRunaway Stars,\u201d where the Space Traveler remarks,<\/p>\n

A space traveler\u2019s dream? To hitch
\na ride on one of those stars: to clutch
\nchaps-clad legs around its pulsing heat,
\nhold on with one hand while the other
\nreaches up toward the coolness. How they
\nbuck and flare in their disentangled fury,
\nhow they charge off suddenly and terribly
\nalone. That\u2019s the dream: not to be
\nthe one burned, the dolt in its path, but
\nthe mount, to ride the swelling fire.<\/p>\n

The language is sexually charged and maverick-like, but ultimately, empowerment is the dream: life as an uninhibited journey full of imagination, courage, and adventure.<\/p>\n

Space Traveler<\/em> is an impressive breakthrough collection for Benjamin S. Grossberg. He trusts his natural voice, and he exhibits just the right combination of wit, intellectual depth and emotional complexity to keep the reader entertained and engaged.<\/p>\n

\u2014Andrea Syzdek, University of Houston<\/em><\/p>\n

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Space Traveler by Benjamin S. Grossberg. Tampa: University of Tampa Press, 2014. 130 pages. $14, paper. Space Traveler, Benjamin S. Grossberg\u2019s third full-length poetry collection, revolves around the journey of the stoic and perceptive Space Traveler. The book is split into six sections, each poem a tightly compacted rocket ship filled with the delightful energy … Continue reading Space Traveler by Benjamin S. Grossberg<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-133","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-book-reviews"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=133"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135,"href":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/133\/revisions\/135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=133"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=133"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mooncityreview.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=133"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}