A Penitential Prayer, Poems on the Holocaust by Belfast, ME resident Gerald George


  • March 23, 2022

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Goose River Press is pleased to announce the publication of A Penitential Prayer, Poems on the Holocaust by Belfast, ME resident Gerald George.  The official publication date is set for April 1, 2022.

From the first incursions against Jews and others to the final death camps with their gas chambers, these poems tell human stories about people in the grip of perverse ironies:  How could a soldier whose job is to shoot Jews write such loving letters to his family? How could a guard loading trains to the death camps think so joyfully of the girl who awaits him? How could a boy helping bury bodies be compelled to sing so sweet a song? How could a great poet be celebrated on a site where millions of people were burned? These poems deal with horrific questions about human beings in the organized killing of six million “despised” people.

Gerald George’s interest in the Holocaust become an obsession as he tried to understand a disaster in which six million people perished. His poems about it portray individual people who endured it, including those who let it happen. He sees his book as penitential, in effect a prayer. 

He has previously published two books of poetry: Figments and Imitations of Indonesia and Other Poems. He has also published poetry in numerous periodicals and anthologies, and his verse play Bailey’s Mistake was performed in Portland’s 2008 Maine One-Act Play Festival. He served on the editorial board of the literary journal Off the Coast, and for several years he coordinated the annual Roque Bluffs Poetry Festival. He and his wife Carol live in Belfast, Maine.     

If you are interested in having Gerald for a book signing, TV/radio/newspaper interview and/or appearance, please contact Goose River Press to make arrangements. Books are available from the publisher and your local bookstore.

 

Press Release

Filter Press Releases


Name or Keyword

Category

Date Range


Contact Information

Deb Benner

3400 Friendship Road
Waldoboro  ME  04527 

(207)832-6665
moc.liamg@91reviresoog