Description
Poetry. The subjects of Levering's poems are as intriguingly variegated as the musicality of his assured poetic diction. In poem after poem, he reveals the extraordinary essence of seemingly ordinary phenomena. Even the common chemical element, copper, in Levering's laserlike gaze, "...unclasps / its rings from our magnets and limbs, / and climbs back inside mountains."
"These poems are paeans, as much to the beauties and fragilities of the natural world as to the pleasure and pain of the human. Like the protagonist of his brilliant poem, 'St. Francis' (of Assisi), Levering is at one with the world where he lives '...flush with love of God / and animals.'"—Larry D. Thomas
Author Bio
Former NEA Fellow Donald Levering was born in Kansas City and received his MFA from Bowling Green State University. He has worked as a teacher on the Diné reservation, groundskeeper, and human services administrator. Among his recent honors are the 2018 Carve Poetry Contest Winner, the 2017 Tor House Robinson Jeffers Prize, the 2014 Literal Latté Prize. ANY SONG WILL DO (Red Mountain Press, 2019) is his 15th poetry book. His other books include PREVIOUS LIVES (Red Mountain Press, 2018), COLTRANE'S GOD (Red Mountain Press, 2015), THE WATER LEVELING WITH US(Red Mountain Press, 2014), and ALGONQUINS PLANTED SALMON (Red Mountain Press, 2012). Garrison Keillor featured a poem from Levering's last book, PREVIOUS LIVES, in his AWriter's Almanac@ podcast. Levering's poems have appeared in Bloomsbury Review, Columbia, Commonweal, Harpur Palate, Hiram Poetry Review, Hollins Critic, Hunger Mountain, Poet & Critic, Poet Lore, Southern Poetry Review, and Yemassee. He is father to a daughter and son and is married to the artist and poet Jane Shoenfeld. He lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico, where he volunteers as a citizenship tutor.
Author City: SANTA FE, NM USA