Description
“Its presumptuous, but if youre reading this you
Probably know my usual obsessions and preoccupations:
The worldboth the word and what it stands forand time,
Which is or isnt real, depending on my mood. Ive always
Hated poems about philosophy, and I hope I still do,
But since I dont know what that means anymore, here I am,
Musing on my ends and my beginnings one more time . . .”
In Beyond Belief, John Koethe poses eternal and essential questions about the rhythms of time, language and literature, and the space between attention and belief. The eleventh book of poetry from Americas philosopher-poet is an intimate, searching collection that gives life to the mundane and lends words to our most interior and abstract musings. What makes a life real? Words on a page, the accumulation of moments and memories, or nothing at all? And what is it worth? Locked inside, have we lost our future and its promises or are we merely pressed to inhabit our present and ourselves?
The award-winning poet invites us into his consideration of our world, as an ordinary person sitting on his balcony on a summer afternoon, / Waiting patiently for someone to explain it to and meanwhile / Living quietly in his imagination, imagining the afterlife.
Author Information
John Koethe has published eleven books of poetry, and has received the Lenore Marshall Poetry Prize, the Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, and the Frank OHara Award for Poetry. He has also published books on Ludwig Wittgenstein, philosophical skepticism, and poetry. He is the Distinguished Professor of Philosophy Emeritus at the University of WisconsinMilwaukee.
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