Mary McCray is the co-author of St. Lou Haiku, a collection of haiku poetry about St. Louis, Missouri, and Why Photographers Commit Suicide, poems about space exploration and new frontiers.
Photo by Stephanie Howard
A book about explorers and frontiers
My new book of poems is now available:
Why Photographers Commit Suicide
by Mary McCray (2012)
Trementina Books
ISBN 0985984503
87 pages/8 illustrations by Emi Villavicencio
9x6/paperback and eBook
Reviews
"Remember when, in Carl Sagan's Contact, the main character said "They should have sent a poet?" Now we have. In a skeptical age, it is extraordinary that we still have dreamers. Mary McCray is one of the best and brightest. From the great Tharsis volcano on Mars to Olympus Mons, these poems are a celebration of what is best about humanity's exploration of the planets. We are moving out among the stars, and Mary McCray is leading us there." -- David H. Levy, astronomer and author of The Quest for Comets and David Levy's Guide to the Night Sky
"What a surprise! Poetry that rightly deserves the praise, by which I mean poetry that makes you forget you're reading poetry. How refreshing. For far too many American poets, their poems are a glitter of self-consciousness--the facile of the MFA crowd. This new collection by Mary McCray should earn her a wide readership with its outer space leaps of invention. Her ribald sense of humor. Grit. Originality. " -- Tom Crawford, Author of The Names of Birds, Wu Wei, and The Temple on Monday
"...a book of poetry for our times...it leads us to the existential abyss, prickling our fears and anxieties...Here we have stars and planets personified, acting out the baser human emotions and acts of lust, lost love and betrayals, dealing with their own fears and anxieties about loss and the ultimate end...Her language is rich and daringly playful, and her sense of poetic rhythm is excellent...If a poet can strike upon the heart, the mind, and the ear all at the same time, then the poet is getting the job done." -- Devin McGuire of the Aurorean
Why Photographers Commit Suicide explores, in small narratives and lyrical poems, the American idea of Manifest Destiny, particularly as it relates to the next frontier—space exploration. Mary McCray examines the scientific, psychological and spiritual frontiers enmeshed in our very human longing for space, including our dream of a space station on Mars. These poems survey what we gain and what we lose as we progress towards tomorrow, and how we can begin to understand the universal melancholy we seem to cherish for what we leave behind, the lives we have already lived. McCray unearths our feelings about what it means to move ahead and stake out new territory, and what it means to be home.
Paperback $13.00 Buy
Kindle $2.99 Buy
Other eBook formats $2.99 Buy
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