Closer to Dying, Poems by Marion Deutsche Cohen

This is one of Marion Cohen's few un-themed poetry collections. Earlier collections have been on specific topics rarely explored to that extent. It seems every time something happens to Marion Cohen, she writes several books about it. Her pregnancy loss books are five in number and her books on the experience of spousal chronic illness number six. And all of what she writes must be said and read. Closer to Dying is, relatively, un-themed. Its title sounds specific, but it's only every once in a while that, upon reaching her early 70's, she thinks about being closer to dying. Being "closer to dying" is not the only aspect of aging. There are poems here reflecting her experience past and present as a classical pianist and first soprano, her existence as a writer, her passion for mathematics and math-like things, her readiness to smash idols (such as Buddha), her fear of pain, torture, and to some extent her very body, childhood memories and dreams as they evolve through the decades. Here you will find miniature sequels to her books about newborn loss, as well as to her most recent poetry collection, Lights I Have Loved. It is very apparent that although she, like all of us, is "closer to dying", she is not at all "farther from living".

Sample Poems by Marion Cohen

Praise for Marion Cohen's Previous Work

"Marion is one of the few poets who can successfully explore the join between the literary and the mathematical sensibilities, and no one does it as well as she."

-Jet Foncannon, Professor Emeritus, Drexel University

"Marion Deutsche Cohen has thought deeply about mathematics and… about being a mathematician."

-Bob Grumman, in Journal of Mathematics and the Arts

"Highly original."

-Anne Hudson, Poetry Editor of Facets

"For both math people and non-math people, the book is intriguing…"

-Alexandra Crane, in Ticket, Montgomery News

Marion Deutsche Cohen is the author of 24 books, most recently the poetry collections Lights I Have Loved and Sizes Only Slightly Distinct. She has also published two controversial memoirs, Still the End: Memoir of a Nursing Home Wife and its prequel Dirty Details: The Days and Nights of a Well Spouse. Three subjects in which she is well versed are pregnancy loss, spousal chronic illness, and mathematics. She teaches math and writing at Arcadia University in Glenside PA, where she has developed the course "Truth and Beauty: Mathematics in Literature". Other interests are classical piano, singing, Scrabble, thrift-shopping, four grown children, and five grands.

ISBN-13: 978-1625491886, 102 pages, $18

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