Heaven and Other Poems

"Horovitz has written verse for decades, but has not collected it publicly until now, at age 75 ... serious autobiographical pieces ... strongly influenced by Robert Lowell." --Publishers Weekly "In this collection Horovitz gives a powerful bone to marrow account of his life as a man and world class artist. He encompasses so much: the brooding poet, a walker in the city, another member of another lost generation in Paris, the wanderlust of a wandering Jew, the older lover, and the man in his 70s with the specter of death over his shoulder." Doug Holder, Boston Area Small Press and Poetry Scene "Horovitz is truly a renaissance man, so it makes perfect sense that he's as adept with verse as he is with stage direction and dialogue. Heaven marks his first official poetry collection and it's already earned high praise from some big names. At 116 pages, this is the perfect volume to slip into your purse or pocket and read on the subway." --Jordan Foster, Book Trib "Horovitz is driven by the craft of writing of all kinds." --Gail McCarthy, Gloucester Times "For 48 years I have known and enjoyed Israel's plays, so it is no surprise that he is a really great poet at heart." --Michael Douglas, (Oscar-winning actor/producer; Wall Street) "Israel Horovitz is now one of a bare handful of playwrights, along with Tennessee Williams, Beckett, and a couple of Elizabethans, who can write first-rate poetry in English. These poems are not merely good for a man who happens to be a world-class playwright; they're poems that make our lives larger than they would be without them." --Russell Banks, (O. Henry Award-winning author, The Sweet Hereafter) "Israel Horovitz loves language like most of us love oxygen. Words spill out of him and pile up in his work like beautiful mounds of rubble. never easy. never silly. Always tough, meaningful, funny, tragic and true. HEAVEN AND OTHER POEMS is a collective sigh, the work of a master writer and a hopeful man--perhaps the last among us to still believe in the redemptive powers of both love and art." --Neil Labute (Award-winning playwright; The Shape of Things) "Sometimes the best of writers express themselves beyond their identifiable disciplines, and now the renowned playwright, Isreal Horovitz, exhibits his remarkable way with words in his first book of poetry." --Gay Talese (New York Times bestselling author; Honor Thy Father) "The poetry in this collection is variously political, personal, passionate, funny, nostalgic, elegiac, verbally playful, and unsparingly honest. Wordsworth said of the sonnet: 'with this key Shakespeare unlocked his heart.' The same can be said of the poems of Israel Horovitz." --Kevin Kline (Oscar-winning actor; A Fish Called Wanda)