Mark Making

It's all here: everything you'd want in poems that are not only a recognition of real lives being lived, but show again the magic of images and metaphors that reveal our lives in ever changing new light. Sometimes they are layered to add depth to the picture they create; sometimes they are adjacent, fitting like a jig saw puzzle to create a picture. There are poems of a working professional, in Dave McElroy's case a pilot in Alaska where, "Our runway disappears thirty yards out before the white wall of the world." Or in Hawaii where, "Off Lanai we launch three thousand pounds of poi." There are also intimate poems of friends, lovers, family: a father and small child out walking a mountain road, scratching marks in the dirt. "And here? And here?/ You and I making our mark/ walking through heaven." Read these poems, for in them you will share the joys and pains of a full life, seen through the rich eye of a fine poet. Gary Holthaus

Inventive. Quixotic. Mark Making by David McElroy is an absolutely wonderful collection of poetry suffused with energy and vitality. These wise, well-crafted poems, so quirky and compelling, so unpredictable in their many turns and intersections, fly through all kinds of weather, both inner and outer, and take you places you've never been, not even in your wildest dreams. McElroy is your guide, the best you could have, and you'll be grateful for such a wild, exhilarating ride. Robert Hedin

Your turn now...what's your story? In this collection of poems, Mark Making, David McElroy introduces and draws us into his world, his story. He takes us from the Miss Universe finalists to Breakup on the Chena River; from The Balkans where the soft things he loves go "clumsy in his hands," to the Soldier's Home where 10 paraplegic men wheel off a basketball court; from the small marks the poet makes on a page to the sun he would be to the earth, swinging it, turning and turning until he is done. Thus does he bind us to him, makes his mark on us all. Anne Caston