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THE COUNTRY OF ELSEWHERES, poetry by Ruth Traubner Kessler
Publication Date: October 1, 2025
Paperback, 114 pages
ISBN: 978-1-966677-11-6
Beginning with the declaration, “Because I have listened to train whistles spell / longings in dusks of three continents // Because three seas pulsate in my blood, / three languages threaded through the heart’s amulet,” Ruth Traubner Kessler speaks authoritatively on behalf of “We, Immigrants,” those living in flux and often fear in the global everywhere and nowhere of The Country of Elsewheres. As a two-time immigrant writing – in her third language – poetry exploring memory, place, and displacement both literal and figurative, her work presents in rich and wrenching imagery the lived experience of those “who chose not to go back, / but never cease going back.” Rooted in common human experience, appealing for common human dignity, seldom has a work of poetry felt so timely, and so necessary. “On a new scroll, write in a / beginner's careful hand: / Tomorrow … Hope’s harbor for the unfisting heart.”
Praise for Ruth Traubner Kessler & The Country of Elsewheres
In The Country of Elsewheres, a fierce exploration of the concept of exile, Ruth Kessler opens us to the many layers of loss that shape our lives: loss of our past, of homeland, of innocence, of certainty, even of self. Kessler conjures Ithaca, a patient about to undergo surgery, the remembered streets of Prague, and the terrible barriers erected by war, and knows that we always have the power to “return as all exiles do: shaken, and changed, and grateful.” Her images spike her lines with continual reminders that our moments of rightness, of perfect love, of belonging will all pass, are shards of light in the vast space that is the human condition. Kessler soars unafraid through this existential firmament, calling and calling to the beloved and to home in poems that mourn, rage, and cherish equally. Her lines, sometimes long and driving, sometimes swiftly cascading, insist the reader stay with her every step of the journey. This collection, where “reliquary itself is religion,” offers its readers a catharsis in verse, reuniting us with our essential nature and with the life-force that propelled us from Eden, banished and flawed and aware. We return at last “home to ourselves,” and she promises us “Hope’s harbor for the unfisting heart.”
—Nancy White, President, The Word Works
Ruth Traubner Kessler writes from a state of continual exile, as an immigrant and a traveler – across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Central America – a worldly poet who writes from the liminal space between worlds, from deep within the layers of time and memory, from a place neither here nor there, but always elsewhere – which is to say everywhere – and she invites her readers to journey with her. “Exile is an uncomfortable situation,” Helene Cixous wrote, “It is also a magical situation.” Kessler shares with us this magic
—Cecilia Woloch, author of Tsigan: The Gypsy Poem (new edition) & others
About the Author
Ruth Traubner Kessler is an Israeli-American poet born in Poland. Her publications include the chapbook Fire Ashes Wings, and over eighty poems, some with special honors. Her poetry has been set to music, featured in concerts and festivals, and made into an artist book. She has received grants and fellowships from NYSCA, NYFA, Yaddo, MacDowell, VCCA, VSC, and the Saltonstall Foundation. Her other writings include a short fiction collection, a children's book, light/nonsense verse, and poetry translations. She lives in New York City. www.RuthKessler.com
Publication Date: October 1, 2025
Paperback, 114 pages
ISBN: 978-1-966677-11-6
Beginning with the declaration, “Because I have listened to train whistles spell / longings in dusks of three continents // Because three seas pulsate in my blood, / three languages threaded through the heart’s amulet,” Ruth Traubner Kessler speaks authoritatively on behalf of “We, Immigrants,” those living in flux and often fear in the global everywhere and nowhere of The Country of Elsewheres. As a two-time immigrant writing – in her third language – poetry exploring memory, place, and displacement both literal and figurative, her work presents in rich and wrenching imagery the lived experience of those “who chose not to go back, / but never cease going back.” Rooted in common human experience, appealing for common human dignity, seldom has a work of poetry felt so timely, and so necessary. “On a new scroll, write in a / beginner's careful hand: / Tomorrow … Hope’s harbor for the unfisting heart.”
Praise for Ruth Traubner Kessler & The Country of Elsewheres
In The Country of Elsewheres, a fierce exploration of the concept of exile, Ruth Kessler opens us to the many layers of loss that shape our lives: loss of our past, of homeland, of innocence, of certainty, even of self. Kessler conjures Ithaca, a patient about to undergo surgery, the remembered streets of Prague, and the terrible barriers erected by war, and knows that we always have the power to “return as all exiles do: shaken, and changed, and grateful.” Her images spike her lines with continual reminders that our moments of rightness, of perfect love, of belonging will all pass, are shards of light in the vast space that is the human condition. Kessler soars unafraid through this existential firmament, calling and calling to the beloved and to home in poems that mourn, rage, and cherish equally. Her lines, sometimes long and driving, sometimes swiftly cascading, insist the reader stay with her every step of the journey. This collection, where “reliquary itself is religion,” offers its readers a catharsis in verse, reuniting us with our essential nature and with the life-force that propelled us from Eden, banished and flawed and aware. We return at last “home to ourselves,” and she promises us “Hope’s harbor for the unfisting heart.”
—Nancy White, President, The Word Works
Ruth Traubner Kessler writes from a state of continual exile, as an immigrant and a traveler – across the U.S., Europe, the Middle East, Central America – a worldly poet who writes from the liminal space between worlds, from deep within the layers of time and memory, from a place neither here nor there, but always elsewhere – which is to say everywhere – and she invites her readers to journey with her. “Exile is an uncomfortable situation,” Helene Cixous wrote, “It is also a magical situation.” Kessler shares with us this magic
—Cecilia Woloch, author of Tsigan: The Gypsy Poem (new edition) & others
About the Author
Ruth Traubner Kessler is an Israeli-American poet born in Poland. Her publications include the chapbook Fire Ashes Wings, and over eighty poems, some with special honors. Her poetry has been set to music, featured in concerts and festivals, and made into an artist book. She has received grants and fellowships from NYSCA, NYFA, Yaddo, MacDowell, VCCA, VSC, and the Saltonstall Foundation. Her other writings include a short fiction collection, a children's book, light/nonsense verse, and poetry translations. She lives in New York City. www.RuthKessler.com