Orpheus the Healer and other poems by V. B. Price

Here, renowned New Mexico poet V. B. Price reflects on the underlying and ever-present reality of loss and grief in all our lives. The gradual and unstoppable accumulation of the deaths of friends and family, and the vacancy and longing they leave behind, is as close to a universal human condition as anything could be. Even when “age under eats us,” how do we heal?

Through these three poetic series—“Orpheus the Healer,” “Emotion,” and “Rio Grande Elegies”—Price connects the universal and the personal, structuring the flow of life and loss that runs through all our histories.

Praise for Orpheus the Healer:

“Unlike the human failure that ripped the mythological Orpheus to pieces, V. B. Price defiantly offers his head so the reader can stare victoriously back at our collective crossroads. His opus Orpheus the Healer treads through the restlessness that drives us when we are on the brink, ambushed by feelings of unworthiness and insecurity. His lament, best savored out loud, is an intoxicating soul dance—alive, spontaneous and free—in which the need for answers has passed from his world. This must-read literary journey proffers the ultimate human gift of how to release the fear of the unknown and hold onto the beauty of life beyond that which we think we know.”

—Anna C. Martinez, author of Pura Puta, City of Albuquerque Poet Laureate Emerita 

“Orpheus the Healer is a full-throated gift from V. B. Price. It’s as if this mature collection was struggling to emerge from his pen and was finally made possible by a series of traumatic and then miraculous events in rapid succession: the loss of his best friend and wife of fifty-two years, an eightieth birthday that brought a new love into his life, a cardiac arrest which left him dead for twenty minutes, and the good fortune of it happening in his cardiologist’s office where they were able to bring him back for many more years of joy and poetic productivity. The mysterious synchronicity of these events gave birth to Orpheus the Healer, and I believe readers will agree it is the poet’s finest work to date. Read this book and revel in creativity and hope.”

—Margaret Randall, author of Last Words

“A most intimate exploration of grief, loss, and the kaleidoscope of memory. The Orphic way unlocks the secrets of gratitude to those with the courage to deeply survey the history of self and its relational fiber. V. B. Price shows us that the power of poetry is its process—to mourn, examine, and eventually heal.”

—Benito Aragon, publisher and co-founder of New Mexico Mercury