From an award-winning poet, a poignant collection that wrestles with anxiety, boredom, fear, and grief

Visiting Rites was published to critical acclaim in 1982 and was a finalist for the National Book Award the following year. This Princeton Legacy Library edition of Phyllis Janowitz’s mesmerizing collection expands on themes of isolation and identity so familiar to her readers with intricately woven poems about the rituals of aging, communion, and confining cultural roles. Tempered with vulnerability, empathy, and uncommon humor, Visiting Rites is an invigorating reflection on longing, love, rejection, and the heartbreak that ennobles us.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Phyllis Janowitz (1930–2014) taught creative writing and poetry at Cornell University. Her books include Temporary Dwellings and Rites of Strangers.