Playing in Overtime: Poems

Barry Wallenstein's previous poetry collection, It's About Time, [1982, NYQ Books] had as its dominant theme time passing and mortality, which is appropriate for a recent octogenarian. Now, a few years later, that theme persists, but he's managed to sidestep it by developing character sketches and poems that address current events and global concerns. The titles of the four sections indicate the separate topics or ideas contained in the poetry: "Persons of Interest," the character sketches, is followed by "Intimacy," love poems that include family, "The Daily News," poems about the outside world and our current wars, environment, and finally "Playing in Overtime," a return to theand the swift passage of time. Even though these sections maintain their own discrete topics, elements of each inform the work as a whole. theme of aging

Barry Wallenstein is the author of twelve collections of poetry, the most recent being Odd Men Out (or In) [Xanadu Press, 2025], It's About Time [New York Quarterly Books, 2022] and Time on the Move [Xanadu Press, 2020]. His poetry has appeared in over 100 journals, including Ploughshares, The Nation, American Poetry Review and Manhattan Review. A special interest is his presentation of poetry readings in collaboration with jazz. He has made twelve recordings of his poetry with jazz, the most recent being Lisbon Sunrise (2022) and Lisbon Sunset (2018). Barry is Emeritus Professor of Literature and Creative Writing at the City University of New York and an editor of the journal, American Book Review, and advisory editor of BigCityLit. Since retiring from CUNY, he's been part of the faculty at the Center for Learning and Living, a continuing ed program for seniors.