Planeta: Wandering (stars), by Joddy Murray

Poetry, chapbook, 44 pages, from Bottlecap Features.

The ancient Greeks noticed certain “stars” that seemed to wander in the night sky as others stayed relatively fixed: planeta, or what many refer to today as the planets in solar systems. Greek mythology is the source of the names and stories of many celestial bodies and constellations. I derive inspiration for poems that connect mythology, the celestial, and the science we have come to understand in this era.

Many of the images and connections in these poems echo the wonder of our immanent existence on this blue ball, as well as the celestial stories and new discoveries (exoplanets, asteroids, comets). Occasionally, these poems draw from my experience. Some draw on connections to the stars and myths as common as our days of the week. These poems wander and lie beneath—peripatetic, sub-spaitial, illuminated.

Joddy Murray’s last chapbook, Anaphora, was published by Finishing Line Press in 2020. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in many journals, including, most recently, Ginosko Literary Journal, Blue Unicorn, Neologism Poetry Journal, Across the Margin, El Portal, Birdy Magazine, The Torrid Literature Journal, Wrath Bearing Tree, The Fourth River, Prism Review, Nude Bruce Review, OxMag, Flights, Perceptions Magazine, Cape Rock, Redactions: Poetry & Poetics, Sou’wester Literary Magazine, and Version 9. He currently lives in Marion, Illinois.