ROCKET CELESTIAL | Poems by John-Michael Bloomquist (Mexico)

Rocket Celestial
Poems
by John-Michael Bloomquist (Mexico 2019-20)
White Stag Publishing
97 pages
March 2023
$18.95 (Paperback)

John-Michael Bloomquist (Mexico 2019-20)

Rocket Celestial is an exploration of human nature through the paradoxes of earth & the cosmos, science & religion, & history & advancement. It sets a stage of existential characters whose faith & morality are met with skepticism, & in which their curiosities can be dangerous.

“How strange it is that the closer we come to the weight of light, the more we must guard ourselves against it, lest we be consumed—how dangerous it is to love you…(from Rocket Celestial)”

Rocket Celestial is a 6×9 glossy cover paperback book with 97 pages of poetry & photos. It includes multiple sections of corresponding poems that journey through the universe, wielding a scale of sword & stardust, cutting through the folds of time to unveil the impact of the human search for knowledge. Intermingled with the poetry are various photos sourced from NASA, displaying the impact of the human search for knowledge on the earth & its inhabitants.

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John-Michael Peter Bloomquist is a poet, artist, and gift economist living in DC with his wife, baby son, and the babcia in a house run by their needy black cat, Sir Zbigniew Herbert the IX. He is a former Peace Corps volunteer (Mexico 2019-20) and a current volunteer for NASA.

While working as a volunteer writing instructor in the Monroe County Jail, he co-edited Poems from the Jail Dorm (Monster House Press, 2016), an anthology of incarcerated men’s poetry. He has been published in Nimrod, Heavy Feather Review, Third Coast, among others, and has been anthologized in And Blue Will Rise Over Yellow: An International Poetry Anthology for Ukraine (Kallisto Gaia Press, 2023). Rocket Celestial is his first book. You can find him wanting to believe in aliens at www.john-michaelpbloomquist.com.