Kirjahaku

"The Many Loves of Duane Vorhees" is devoted to the many aspects of romantic (and sometimes anti-romantic) relationships, from start-ups to breakups and unrequited situations in between, from youthful idealism to cynical manipulation to rediscovered vitality. This book represents the early stages of that evolution.

GIFT is the aptly named new volume by Duane Vorhees. Unlike his previous book, THE MANY LOVES OF DUANE VORHEES, the new one is not monothematic. It explores the subjects that are the basis of great poetry -- self, life, politics, place, faith, philosophy, and art among them -- in a variety of styles and moods. Throughout, the poems employs wit, creativity, and erudition in an approachable manner. Anyone who enjoys meaningful poetry should look forward to reading and re-reading this remarkable tome. As Duane writes in his opener, Medicine men summon the sacred smokeof sage sweetgrass and cedar.They unrein the Dream.And poets compose.They unmine the mindfield, inciteinsight. A book of poetry by "one of our most important poets." (see review below) What Reviewers Think... a delightful collection of poems At times playful, at times sober and reflective on the topics of] friendship, envy, lust, the philosophy of existence, written] in a voice that is sincere, original, captivating. The reader becomes an explorer, and the exploration brings great joy and value.- Peter Wodarz, Professor, Okinawa Christian University I always have approached a Vorhees book with a smile on my face, knowing that soon I would chuckle at his politely naughty sense of humor and delightful word play. ...] His] respect for language and the beauty in which it can take multiple directions takes on the tone of a blues number ...]He understands the beauty of our frailties, the lost and found and lost yet again inevitable pattern of the human experience. ...] T]his collection of poems embraces the elusiveness of life's beauty ...]. Everything has its moment.- Dave NorrisAssociate Professor of English, University of Maryland Global Campus V]isionary and eclectic ...] The author's] metaphorical poetry speaks directly to the reader, challenging ...] us to concentrate on lexical progression and his astonishing rhythmic, galloping rhyming scheme, following] an unknown but intriguing poetic path, passing distant lands and meeting an array of people, cultures and beliefs ...] This is indeed a cinematic journey through the eyes of a world travelling word weaver, who has tasted life's feast and who now throws existential crumbs our way; satisfying our global palette ...] whilst at the same time closing our eyes and bravely attempt to savour unknown poetic flavours.- Don Beukes, Author of The Salamander Chronicles I kept thinking that I had encountered what could have happened had e.e. cummings and Franz Wright collaborated on a project. Vorhees is a wordsmith who unlocks the subtle meanings - entendres, double and triple - and makes us marvel at the power of language. This is a collection of brilliant poems. ...] It] is poetry that intends to open the eyes, inform the intellect, and tangle the reader in the intricacies of words. It succeeds. ...] Duane Vorhees emerges as one of our most important poets.- Charlie Brice, Author of Mnemosyne's Hand

A book of 129 poems that range from personal observations about human behaviour via physics and art/culture to perspectives on cites and politics.The book is divided into ten equal-length groupings of twelve poems each, plus a Fourwords and Afterwords section. An introduction titled On Reading a Poem for the First Time and an About the Author section (not written by the author) complete the interior.Praise for the BookDuane Vorhees uses moments from history and his story as a successful analogy for the state of humanity in general, with particular attention to the progression of feelings through time. Many of the poems in this collection feel pleasantly cryptic at first reading, but they often reveal themselves upon revisiting, moving from simplifications into specifics that justify the poet's generalities. There is a great reverence for sound in these poems, too, which make good but sparse use of rhyme and assonance. Some of the poems are funny too. There is a strong theme of spiritual and political protest running down the stream of the collection, and it's extremely refreshing to see the poet seamlessly transition from voice to voice.-Dominic Francis, author God's Pretty Game of Grotesque PuppetsDuane Vorhees's poems tiptoe on classical notes in a sense that they crave for and aim at the bygone era when he actually experienced the emotions. These are classical in a sense that they are "recollected in tranquility." He masters the moments and provides us a glimpse of the fineness and deficiency peculiar to the event. I often read them once as a whole and again one line at a time, only during your second journey you might walk in the shoes of the poet himself, meander in the meadows of echo and sighs, cheers and cries.-Kushal Poddar, author Postmarked QuarantineIcy and warm in almost the same breath. When you finish one you may have to brace yourself for the next plummet or sudden ascent. But this is as it should be when you read a poet who has been at work for as long as Duane. There are few subjects outside his range. Yes, you may have to take a breather here or there in this collection to get your proper bearings. But Duane's poems also glide serendipitously through those liminal spaces between the Magical and Mythical and Ego/Rational dimensions of consciousness. Indeed, one wanders through this forest of wonders only to bump into the spirit of the Ancients here and that of Modernists over there. To open a book of Duane's poems is to start up the gangway to an Ark shaped like a Castle. Or is that in fact an Interstellar Oasis Caravan? In any case, lucky readers will know they are in for a heck of a ride -Robert Perchan, author Fluid in Darkness, Frozen in Light and Last Notes from a Split Peninsula: Poems and Prose Poems V]ery exciting poems. The author has] been very consistent in thought-provoking poems and will in no small way contribute significantly to the world of knowledge and literature. His] poetry seems to mark a new beginning of intellectual product of our everyday life. T]he worth and joy of reading this poet's] work cannot be ignored.-Rashid Pelpuo, Deputy Majority Leader, Parliament of Ghana

There shouldn't be poetry like this; we'll need to ban it, like Alex Jones. Down with the poets like Duane Vorhees, whose name is the same as Jason's Yet Duane is much gentler, it must be said. He may have risen from the dead, but his knife is actually the forest itself, or one of its regions. I was invited in; I am afraid. Save me from the truth; burn him at the stake.No, I don't want there to be poetry like this. I don't want Duane Vorhees to have written it. Turn back the clock. I will vote Democrat again, just make it go away. Don't make me see, how the universe works inside. I'll wear the uniform. I'll oil my gun, my words, my guns, my words. What is he doing?A confession, but the tricky Hollywood kind, where you confess how you're going to burn down the villain's house. Where you tell the buxom lass how long you've been in love with her. Duane has been in love a long time, It seems to be a specialty of poets. Some of them have the good sense to keep their mouths shut about it: this is why Vorhees and I are unlikely to be published in The New Yorker. So crass, Love. So bohemian Passe Outre Commie. Pinko. Fag. Russian. Bot.But he moves from the general to particular. His weighing of the balls is actually an act of humility, to suggest the scale of his own life in relation to the galactic fucks of the solar system. He succumbs to some of our weaknesses. To remember the shape of our real lives, small but important, only to us. Perhaps he should have explored the pain of that more. I don't know.I'm still not sure Jason has put away his knife. But we've moved in to the domestic. If it is murder it will be in bed.I don't like the ending: that doesn't matter. The beginning is among some of the best stuff I've read. If I were his editor I'd shout at him, like the old beard-god: Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs Behold the universe A drooling idiot Feast on it with your jaws Dance in your mask, we're watching. I want to see you fire the gun again, at the sky, so I can laugh. If that sound you made is laughing; I don't know what it was.What are you laughing at, Duane? And what am i doing? We're going to ban you, I promise. We'll put you in the cage We'll record your voice Your gift will be to the king, and the sentence is, that you will have to keep giving it Every year Tell us, magician, what makes the planets move, and count them, and in revealing their essence you must, like the wizard, tame the ghost you summon from out of the sky, all in the circle while we watch How much can you defeat How far will you travel? Is is so dangerous? Tell us what it is.Yes, Jason/Duane is a kind of knight. But his lord is not his mother, like in the movie. He is American enough to be his own king. But then what is a quest, when you have to fulfill it yourself? God? Woman? Facebook? All of the above.- Robin Wyatt Dunn

A Book of poetry.Review of Between HolocaustsIn Duane Vorhees's introductory poem "A Mind Rewinds", from his latest work Between Holocausts, Vorhees captures something indescribable, when he writes: My psyche is littered with living Its/ Disregarded superegos still whine/ Od and Ob hiss between young green vines/Bony hilltops strain to catch day's first light/ their bloodguilt insufficiently contrite.I found the book's neurodivergent style instructive, creative, intuitive, alarming and haunting....as it grapples with a subject matter such as the holocaust with a sort of classic poetic indirectness that reads like a literary puzzle with a cartage of sometimes obscure literary symbolisms and references that compels further investigation.The repetitious nature of the poems make for a particularly eerie experience, like an ominous cautionary tale being emanated from the sagacious tongue of someone GRAND...whether grandfather or grandmother, you want to lean forward in attention and anticipation. The author achieves preternatural phenomena in the way that he presents his writings, which I found quite refreshing.As I read these words I felt like an exposed viscera on legs, figuratively inside/out vibes. Like Frost, Vorhees investigates complex social and philosophical themes with mastery but with a poignant bout of relatable and humbled vulnerability which is the plight and euphoria, conundrum and exaltation of any type of artist. Could Vorhees be described as an itinerant troubadour who, in the middle ages, was the shining knight of poetry? Or maybe he's just a guy with something to say about some things that matter to him, and he conceivably hopes that they matter to you as well.The poems read like a heuristic and socratic exercise replete with mythical biblical and literary symbolisms. While we're at it, why not add Mimetic Theory to the list? Although the book is replete with an infelicitous subject matter, after reading it, your resistance to transfiguration could conceivably be an exercise in futility; you will emerge from the chrysalis of self-consciousness to a wisdomed sage having been dug up from the darkness of an egregious past and exposed to ebb and flow of a reformatory present through poetic light and historical literary erudition. Nothing is nugatory, every word, every nuance seems carefully selected, with fluid paradoxical wordplay and intrigue, cajoling the reader to read on and hopefully decode the cleverly coded script.Vorhees writes with ingenuity, authenticity, and authority. A MUST read for anyone willing to trek a trip down a dark path with a promise of light ahead. The stuff of LIFE A familiar trope done in an unfamiliar way...a literary TRIUMPH -Jacques Fleury, author of You Are Enough: The Journey to Accepting Your Authentic Self

BARTER"Barter" is a thought-provoking poem that explores the concept of exchange and the interconnectedness of various roles in society. The use of dialogue between different characters adds a sense of immediacy and personal connection to the poem's themes.The poem introduces us to a series of exchanges, where each person offers something unique and seeks something in return. The metaphoric language, such as grasping a rose and embracing a thorn, tasting fruit while enduring mud, and exchanging nectar and ambrosia for diamonds and jet, adds depth and richness to the poem's imagery.The poet touches upon the idea of reciprocal relationships, emphasizing the give-and-take nature of interactions. This notion is particularly highlighted in the concluding line, where the exchange of pain and prosperity is presented as an integral part of romantic relationships.Overall, "Barter" explores the complexities of transactions beyond mere material goods, delving into the realm of emotions, experiences, and challenges. The poem invites readers to reflect on the dynamics of exchange in various aspects of life and the delicate balance between sacrifice and reward.BIODuane Vorhees is an American poet in Thailand. He is the author of THE MANY LOVES OF DUANE VORHEES, HEAVEN, GIFT: GOD RUNS THROUGH ALL THESE ROOMS, and MEMORIES ARE LINKED LIKE OASES. Born in Farmersville, Ohio, USA, he graduated from Bowling Green State University with a doctorate in American Culture Studies. He has taught at Seoul National University, Korea University, amd the Asian Division of the University of Maryland University College (now the University of Maryland Global Campus). He has traveled extensively on five continents.