Overview

Walking Trees and Other Poems ranges in subjects from nature, history, religion, and the arts, to the joys and griefs of a long life, to the experience of living around the globe. A bicycle with a voice meets a cathedral. A father-to-be hallucinates giant babies everywhere. The daughter of a famous painter helps them both recover from a war. Many of these poems are set to the music of meter and rhyme. In all, the poet celebrates a world of faith, hope, love-and, on a good day, humor.

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Reviews

In this remarkable first book of poems, Steven Peterson shows fluent meter and lively speech can distill the scenes of our present discontents, explore the far-flung places of the world, and recount the great events of history. Here are poems of technical grace and generous vision and here is a book that is at once rooted in the life of the Midwest and yet universal in scope. -James Matthew Wilson, author of The Fortunes of Poetry in an Age of Unmaking and The Strangeness of the Good By turns witty and poignant-sometimes both in the same breath-these poems reveal a range of characters' voices from the past and the present. Their unpredictable angles on experience, their memorable images and ""perception of likeness,"" will transport you upon roving roots that ramble away to truly surprising distances. -Katy Carl, Editor in Chief of Dappled Things and author of As Earth Without Water In Walking Trees and Other Poems, Steven Peterson displays a striking range of interests: history (both literary and personal), nature, urban and international life, and spiritual devotion-all of which are treated with consummate craftsmanship and artistry. The book takes its title from the passage in the Gospel according to St. Mark in which Christ heals a man born blind, a man, as Peterson puts it, ""to whom everything looks new."" Peterson himself is one such observer, and so will be those grateful readers who come to know the poems in this remarkable début collection. -William Thompson, Editor of Alabama Literary Review Peterson's verse is so warm and likeable that its moments of pathos sneak up on you and cut deep. Whether the poet is imagining the life of Matisse's daughter or bringing Vietnamese takeout to his pregnant wife, he always combines formal polish with a certain gentle humanity. -Meredith McCann, Poetry Editor of Dappled Things Steven Peterson's Walking Trees and Other Poems finds joy in language, history, ordinary life, and events from the Bible. His poetry is thoughtful, carefully crafted, and worth sharing with people you love. -A. M. Juster, poet, translator, essayist, and author of Wonder and Wrath

Author Information

Steven Peterson is a poet and playwright living in Chicago and northern Wisconsin. His plays have been produced around the United States. His poetry has been published in many magazines, now collected in Walking Trees and Other Poems.

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