Critical Overview

Westering Angels contains work of primarily two styles:

The first is the long-lined poem that taps colloquial speech in the traditions of Whitman, Williams, Ginsberg, and now B.H. Fairchild.  The works have a cadence that borders on oratory.  They attempt to build to a climax then descend, and aim for an emotional power that is best revealed in a live reading.  Many of these poems will be available on CD from Zeitgeist Press in the coming year.

The second is the poem that follows the lead of James Wright, makes more of less, and in doing so triggers a revelatory penance for the larger crimes of our culture, the self-destruction imbedded in our humanness.  But as even Wright knew, there is no authenticity in America without hope—the thread through the culture that makes living here ever an experiment.

Here are what some fellow poets say about the work:

“An unforgettable modern voice… In Schain’s poetry, the inexhaustible American hunger confronts its limits—wilderness defiled by industry, the nuclear family gone ballistic, love turned impossible.  Here widom and madness live side-by-side, take the reader’s hand, and walk us toward the uncertain future.  Once you have heard his cadences, you will not forget.”  – Bruce Isaacson

“There’s a rawness, a brashness to Eliot Schain’s poetry that vividly angles it out against the bland, beveled, ‘workshop’ American; at the same time, Schain writes with an accuracy of observation, an emotional honesty that gives his poetry real weight against the run of easy, potshotting ‘street’ or ‘neo-beat’…”  - Richard Silberg

“American Romance is about anger and forgiving.  It’s about our struggle to accept human imperfection and our common humanity…Schain’s work invites us to become regulars.  I’d drink at his bar and buy his books.  His work remind us that the best poetry, like the best bartending, is psycho-therapeutic.” 
- Barbara Lombardo

Buy the Book

Purchase Options:

1) Link to Link to Zeitgeist Press.

2) Send  $15 to Eliot Schain, 1338 Santa Fe Ave. Berkeley, CA 94702 and a copy will be sent to you via U.S. Mail.