Böcker av John Knoepfle

During the 1800s Americans developed the foundation for commerce and future economic growth. Steamboats were what drove American commerce in the 1800s and into the early 1900s until the 1950s when steamboats were no longer profitable. Boats in the inland rivers transported everything: lumber, oil for lamps, coal, cotton, and every type of farm animal and crop. Steamboats carried mail, and at a time before radio, TV, and movies, they provided entertainment. In the 1950s John Knoepfle set about interviewing some seventy workers who had spent their lives on steamboats, packets and towboats. They were captains, pilots, boat owners, show boaters, night watchmen, mates, roustabouts, lock masters, packet cooks, among others. As told in their own words, this is the true story of steamboating. This is an important and authentic part of American history.

John Knoepfle's latest book The Aloe of Evening is the best collection of poems you will read this year. Knoepfle [pronounced know-full] has command of our spoken language few writers will ever achieve. And he knows exactly where the golden thread of each poem is. His poems have both breadth and emotional depth. One poem within this book begins with sadness profound enough to make the reader cry, and closes with humor strong enough to make this reader laugh out loud. As early as the second poem cameo appearances are made by Horatio and Hamlet. Further into the book the poet raises a question about Shakespeare's second bed. He writes amazing lines here. In one poem "the world falls out of orbit"; in another clowns are "cartwheeling at some other circus." In a poem titled "What Happened to this Computer," he reveals his art by showing the reader word-by-word problems computers can cause, and we laugh because he is saying what everybody has felt. Here are the first two lines from "The Parade Has Ended," "How do you walk out of yourself / beyond the trail of words." Well friends, this book has poems about family, friends, remembrances, zany poems, dream poems, poems about aging, many are spiritual, and a few are about writing. I have been reading poetry books for 50 years. This is the best one I've read. But do not take my word for it. Buy this book! Read it aloud! Listen to the nuances spun into the language, and decide for yourself! -Victor Pearn

What's new in this book? What is new comes from being eighty-nine. There is a great freedom in these poems. They range at will from the mundane to the utterly mysterious and deeply spiritual. There are conversations with friends and a conversation about a malfunctioning alarm clock with the poet's son. The poet crosses boundaries. He breaks rules. Emotions shift. Galaxies appear and reappear. The angel of death comes up with a comment on the poet's work. There is advice from Santa Claus. What more could a reader require? The shadows are deep. The starlight is bright. You will also find and enjoy Knoepfle's love of the words and rhythms of our daily speech -- and his way of laying a line on the page. It's all lower case, no caps except for the poet's "I," no punctuation, just the minimal clues so you can get the sound and sense. For Knoepfle, every line is a poem - in the way it sounds and in the way it stacks up with the others to create a surprise. Born in Cincinnati in 1923, John Knoepfle has seen a lot of history. He's a Purple Heart Veteran; as a boat officer on an attack transport in the Pacific during World War II, he took part in the landings at Iwo Jima and Okinawa. As a young writer and teacher, he joined the Civil Rights movement and worked to build the Great Society. Since then he has written about the many places he has lived and visited - the people, the landscape, the stories, the hidden history, often illuminated by his Catholic faith. You will find all these things in this book. John Knoepfle is the author of twenty-one books. His poetry has been published in many magazines and anthologies. His most recent works, Walking in Snow, a book of poems and I Look Around for My Life, an autobiography, were published in 2008 by Pearn and Associates. Knoepfle is professor emeritus of literature at the University of Illinois-Springfield. His awards include fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts; as well as the Mark Twain Award for Contributions to Midwestern Literature from the Society for the Study of Midwestern Literature; Author of the Year Award from the Illinois Association of Teachers of English; and the Literary Heritage Award from the Illinois Center for the Book. He lives in Springfield, Illinois, with his wife Peggy. More information can be found on his website: johnknoepfle.com.