Search results for ""author walt mcdonald""
University of Notre Dame Press All Occasions
The 65 poems in All Occasions are about a boy who later flies as an Air Force pilot, marries a woman so lovely and loving he’s stunned, goes home after a war and discovers with friends and family what John Donne meant in one Christmas sermon: “All occasions invite his mercies, and all times are his seasons.” The poems celebrate the wonder and need of all occasions—the heartache and longing and joy of being alone, loved, in war, in a cockpit at 40,000, riding the range on a mustang, and in the arms of a family. From “swaggering to the flight line” as a young pilot to feeling alone in the jungles of Saigon, he goes home to work the ranch and survives largely by learning to connect with others—other old vets, family, and strangers. The book opens with a granddaughter humming and nibbling breakfast while her daddy, back from war, cooks more French toast for her. In part 2 of All Occasions, the writer experiences Vietnam and discovers over swift decades how deeply he needs friends, family, and God. Always, even after flying “to Saigon and back,” this book is about the risks and joys of marriage and raising children in a dangerous world, where love is our hope and only grace saves. This is Walt McDonald’s eighteenth collection of poems, with his best, most affirmative core.
£96.94
University of Notre Dame Press Climbing the Divide
"For years, I've wondered in amazement how Walt McDonald does what he does, poem after poem, book after book. He sings like no one else. In Climbing the Divide, McDonald has made his strongest collection of poems yet." —David Citino, author of The News and Other Poems "Climbing the Divide must have been written with a pen Walt McDonald dipped into his heart. Crisscrossing generations, poems detail watching a grandfather with knuckles the size of walnuts carve a grizzly bear out of oak, taking car keys away from a father 'who drove tanks for Patton' and thinking about nights in the jungle of Vietnam while pushing a granddaughter in a swing because her father is training overseas for Desert Storm. Binding us to his Texas world in sensual detail about men with big-boned fists who inhabit a land where the moon pockmarks the sky, Walt McDonald refuses to let moments of communion be swallowed by 'war on every channel.' His poems stay lodged in the heart to remind us why we need to celebrate, even in a world that threatens to drown out song." —Vivian Shipley, author of When There Is No Shore "I spent one whole amazing fall morning engrossed in this book. What impresses me most is the love and music and startling intelligence with which, for all of us, Walt McDonald charts the territory beyond mid-life." —Jeanne Murray Walker The poems in Climbing the Divide celebrate with praise and amazement the wonders and risks of wilderness and family, of friends before and after the war. The boy in these poems grows up during World War II, feisty in spite of losses and the harsh, hardscrabble land where he lives. Surrounded by heroes, he learns ranching and faith from parents, extended family, and neighbors. In pilot training and war and back home with friends and memories of friends missing in action, he finds delight with his wife, who makes "magical hammocks at bedtime" for their children. Despite heartache and rage, they discover more hope and joy than they thought possible while growing older—jogging at 65 in winter, hiking grizzly country with bells, and "climbing the divide," knowing they're nearer each day to "the dark, hollow halo of space."
£21.99
University of Notre Dame Press Climbing the Divide
"For years, I've wondered in amazement how Walt McDonald does what he does, poem after poem, book after book. He sings like no one else. In Climbing the Divide, McDonald has made his strongest collection of poems yet." —David Citino, author of The News and Other Poems "Climbing the Divide must have been written with a pen Walt McDonald dipped into his heart. Crisscrossing generations, poems detail watching a grandfather with knuckles the size of walnuts carve a grizzly bear out of oak, taking car keys away from a father 'who drove tanks for Patton' and thinking about nights in the jungle of Vietnam while pushing a granddaughter in a swing because her father is training overseas for Desert Storm. Binding us to his Texas world in sensual detail about men with big-boned fists who inhabit a land where the moon pockmarks the sky, Walt McDonald refuses to let moments of communion be swallowed by 'war on every channel.' His poems stay lodged in the heart to remind us why we need to celebrate, even in a world that threatens to drown out song." —Vivian Shipley, author of When There Is No Shore "I spent one whole amazing fall morning engrossed in this book. What impresses me most is the love and music and startling intelligence with which, for all of us, Walt McDonald charts the territory beyond mid-life." —Jeanne Murray Walker The poems in Climbing the Divide celebrate with praise and amazement the wonders and risks of wilderness and family, of friends before and after the war. The boy in these poems grows up during World War II, feisty in spite of losses and the harsh, hardscrabble land where he lives. Surrounded by heroes, he learns ranching and faith from parents, extended family, and neighbors. In pilot training and war and back home with friends and memories of friends missing in action, he finds delight with his wife, who makes "magical hammocks at bedtime" for their children. Despite heartache and rage, they discover more hope and joy than they thought possible while growing older—jogging at 65 in winter, hiking grizzly country with bells, and "climbing the divide," knowing they're nearer each day to "the dark, hollow halo of space."
£81.00
University of Notre Dame Press All Occasions
The 65 poems in All Occasions are about a boy who later flies as an Air Force pilot, marries a woman so lovely and loving he’s stunned, goes home after a war and discovers with friends and family what John Donne meant in one Christmas sermon: “All occasions invite his mercies, and all times are his seasons.” The poems celebrate the wonder and need of all occasions—the heartache and longing and joy of being alone, loved, in war, in a cockpit at 40,000, riding the range on a mustang, and in the arms of a family. From “swaggering to the flight line” as a young pilot to feeling alone in the jungles of Saigon, he goes home to work the ranch and survives largely by learning to connect with others—other old vets, family, and strangers. The book opens with a granddaughter humming and nibbling breakfast while her daddy, back from war, cooks more French toast for her. In part 2 of All Occasions, the writer experiences Vietnam and discovers over swift decades how deeply he needs friends, family, and God. Always, even after flying “to Saigon and back,” this book is about the risks and joys of marriage and raising children in a dangerous world, where love is our hope and only grace saves. This is Walt McDonald’s eighteenth collection of poems, with his best, most affirmative core.
£27.31
