Radiance

"Emanuel Xavier's newest book radiates in diverse directions, back into a past of New York club kid glamour and violence, into a family history of lost connections, and into loves forfeited and found-all of which the poet illumines with steady-eyed honesty. Finally, as he confronts a health challenge to the very brain that is the root-place of these sharp and poignant poems, radiation becomes radiance, a hard-won inner light that lets us all see how 'splendid is our survival.'" -David Groff, author of Clay

"As in his title poem, Radiance, the tenderness of Emanuel Xavier's words are in stark contrast to the hard and often painful realities they convey. Yet, the two are masterfully melded to create beautiful stories in poems that are at once sad and encompass a sense of yearning. Radiance is the type of read that calms the nerves until the reality of what it conveys pierces one's heart and not with cupid's arrow." --Nancy Mercado, editor of the Nuyorican Women Writers Anthology

"Urgency and despair wrestle in the restless poems of Emanuel Xavier's Radiance. As Sinatra's singing voice grew richer, more resonant, more heartbreaking after his celebrated breakup with Eva Gardner, Xavier's poetic voice strikes new notes, new registers, both diving and soaring." --Michael Broder, author of This Life Now and Drug and Disease Free

"In Radiance, Xavier scours the words of his poetry and the reader is given a keen clear look at reality. I love Emanuel!" --Miguel Algarin, founder of the Nuyorican Poets Cafe