| Author: | John Koethe | ISBN: | 9780374719197 |
| Publisher: | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Publication: | November 20, 2018 |
| Imprint: | Farrar, Straus and Giroux | Language: | English |
| Author: | John Koethe |
| ISBN: | 9780374719197 |
| Publisher: | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| Publication: | November 20, 2018 |
| Imprint: | Farrar, Straus and Giroux |
| Language: | English |
Collected poems from America’s searching and thoughtful philosopher-poet
. . . There*’s something
Comforting about rituals renewed, even adolescents’* pipe dreams:
They*’*ll find out soon enough, and meanwhile find their places
In the eternal scenery, less auguries or cautionary tales
Than parts of an unchanging whole, as ripe for contemplation
As a planisphere or the clouds: the vexed destinies, the shared life,
The sempiternal spectacle of someone preaching to the choir
While walking backwards in the moment on a warm spring afternoon.
John Koethe’s poems—always dynamic and in process, never static or complete—luxuriate in the questions that punctuate the most humdrum of routines, rendering a robust portrait of an individual: complicated, quotidian, and resounding with truth. Gathering for the first time his impressive and award-winning body of work, published between 1966 and 2016, Walking Backwards introduces this gifted poet to a new, wider readership.
Collected poems from America’s searching and thoughtful philosopher-poet
. . . There*’s something
Comforting about rituals renewed, even adolescents’* pipe dreams:
They*’*ll find out soon enough, and meanwhile find their places
In the eternal scenery, less auguries or cautionary tales
Than parts of an unchanging whole, as ripe for contemplation
As a planisphere or the clouds: the vexed destinies, the shared life,
The sempiternal spectacle of someone preaching to the choir
While walking backwards in the moment on a warm spring afternoon.
John Koethe’s poems—always dynamic and in process, never static or complete—luxuriate in the questions that punctuate the most humdrum of routines, rendering a robust portrait of an individual: complicated, quotidian, and resounding with truth. Gathering for the first time his impressive and award-winning body of work, published between 1966 and 2016, Walking Backwards introduces this gifted poet to a new, wider readership.
