Silver Medal Winner, 2016 Independent Book Publishers Association Benjamin Franklin Awards Winner of the 2012 Robert Frost Farm Prize and the 2014 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. “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 Poems from the collection : Blind Date {after Shakespeare} Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Mosquitoes. Rain. Vacation without pay. October Closing The red and yellow tents come down, the trapeze sky turns gray, a lagging harlequin in brown looks back and walks away. Communion The moon’s a sacramental host, night air the eucharistic wine for those who can’t give up the ghost of finding love incarnadine. I take the moonlight on my tongue and drink the linden-blossomed air, remembering when I was young and mouthed the same unanswered prayer. "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 "From love to death to our place in the cosmos, Richard Meyer leaves no thorny subject unexplored in this often mesmerizing collection." -Melissa Balmain, Editor, Light poetry magazine "Orbital Paths is a big book in both scope and heart. [Meyer] addresses abiding themes of love and death and destiny in poems that are sometimes humorous, sometimes grave, and over and over again striking for the directness of their aim-answering what may puzzle or confound us about being human with a well-crafted, sympathetic music." -Richard Robbins, Professor of English and Director of Creative Writing at Minnesota State University, author of Radioactive City and Other Americas "Orbital Paths by Richard Meyer is a lyrical meditation that sends the reader on a spiritual trajectory into the farthest reaches of the cosmos then firmly back to earth, the panoply of human emotions underpinning the journey." -Catherine Chandler, author of Lines of Flight and Glad and Sorry Seasons "Insightful and sure-footed throughout, Orbital Paths contains potent genies in small bottles, and heady pleasures. Meyer's mastery of the short poem will stand the test of time." -Ed Shacklee, poet "Many of these poems sparkle with delightful humor, and in some the clever wit casts a dark shadow. From backyard birds to frozen waterfalls to a gun toting god, these carefully constructed, accessible poems will entertain and enlighten." - Edward Micus, author of The Infirmary 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