Sublunary

"These poems are moving sublunary folk tales, a contemporary oral tradition of grief and wonder, surprise and bemused celebration. They speak of memory, the steadfast alchemy of self-awareness, of naming, of weaving a cloth of relations with the world and those one loves. They have the steady and certain strength of craft and curiosity. Life as we experience it is beautiful and strange, a painful and tender paradox. These are poems that see. We are seen." Gary Barwin, author of The Comedian’s Book of the Dead
"In Sublunary, themes in Richter’s previous work, like memory, grief, and absence, re-emerge—this time woven in with references to mythology and Jewish folklore. Always present: the struggles of holding life’s strangeness alongside its joyful and bewildering elements." Jonathan Rothman, Canadian Jewish News, December 2025
“In Sublunary, a collection as elegant as it is insightful, Richter answers the question, ‘What rhymes with crow’s feet, / girl’s grit, owl’s flight, crone’s teeth?' A hard-won wisdom resounds through these bespoke lyric poems that glitter like crystal trees, nourished by roots of blood. While holding space to elegize what has been taken and lost, Richter never succumbs to easy bitterness, but remains open to wonder—‘passionately attached to the world' and all ‘its peculiar mouthfeel.'’’ Kayla Czaga, author of Midway