Poetry | $10 ($8 direct from UDP)
Hand-bound. 24 pp, 6.25 x 8.25 in.
Letterpress printed cover and title page
Publication Date: June 24, 2010
Distribution: Direct-only

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"Ben Fama is a new icon of the Brooklyn poetry scene. He’s churning out gorgeous, smart and bitingly aware poetry." —The Towering Irrelevance 

"how much do you rely on planets? Ben Fama poses this question in his astounding astrological sequence of poems, Aquarius Rising. He doesn't depend on planets: he sees signs in all that's around him — sky, sea, sequins. A poetic horoscopist, he knows that there is nothing more difficult or fun than attempting to make sense of the present. For Fama, the present presages another present, and then another; and he reads it with wit and wonderment and wily smarts. I take his words to heart. Fama is the future." -DEREK MCCORMACK, author of The Haunted Hillbilly and The Show That Smells.

"If you love someone you might want to call her and leave Ben Fama’s poems as messages on her voicemail. The messages would be informative and casual and glowing. They would be a big deal—a glamorous shrug from the heart!" -HEATHER CHRISTLE

From Aquarius Rising:

Joe Brainard’s 21st Tan

Opened like the funnies
a picture stuffed
into another picture’s frame
the sky becomes gray
no candles lit
this reality will not suffice
if it isn’t cosmic it isn’t anything
it’s raining and I’m going out
maybe Joe Brainard will show up
maybe a diamond will fall
all the things he talked about
still make the poem a surprise
I once asked to marry the moon
believe a mind could
take hold of the sea
Katie died surfing
I too know the sorrow of wanting love
refuse to tame my vulgar emotions
and I’d like to go home
the long way if I remember

NEWS AND REVIEWS

07.15.14 | Ben Fama’s Aquarius Rising reviewed in The Volta Blog

01.31.11 | A review of Aquarius Rising and Try a Little Time Travel in the Sink Review

12.23.10 | Aquarius Rising and The Nature Poetry of Matvei Yankelevich featured on The Towering Irrelevance

11.01.10 | Ben Fama’s Aquarius Rising reviewed on the Best American Poetry blog

08.27.10 | Ben Fama, author of Aquarius Rising, interviewed on musefinder.org

08.14.10 | Ben Fama, author of Aquarius Rising, featured on the Corresponding Society blog

07.26.10 | Aquarius Rising by Ben Fama reviewed on the Wooden Spoon blog

Ben Fama is the author of New Waves, Aquarius Rising, and the artist book Mall Witch. He is the co-editor of Wonder. His work appears in The Brooklyn Rail, Action Yes, Jubilat, notnostrums, LIT, Poor Claudia, Denver Quarterly, Maggy, and on the Best American Poetry Blog. He lives in New York City.