Walking Backwards, John Koethe
Walking Backwards, John Koethe
List: $15.99 | Sale: $11.20
Club: $7.99

Walking Backwards
Poems 1966-2016

Author: John Koethe

Narrator: John Koethe

Unabridged: 2 hr 10 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 09/10/2019


Synopsis

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 audience.

About John Koethe

John Koethe is Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus, Department of Philosophy, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, USA.


Reviews

A beautiful collection of poetry filled with nostalgia and longing. I took my time and spent five months reading through this collection. I'm so happy that I own this, and more people should read Koethe.......more

Goodreads review by Peggy

Beautiful metrical verse written by a master. It's unique, not like most poetry written today--there's the strong meter, the long poems, the way it tells a story--"first this, then that"--which puts it squarely into the New York School camp. There are references to John Ashberry and Frank O'Hara in......more

Goodreads review by Andrew

Calm, reflective words about life experiences.......more


Awards

  • Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Best Books of the Year
  • Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Guide to the 100 Best Books of the Year