Poem on the Range: A Poet Laureate’s Love Song to Kansas
ISBN: 978-0-9795844-7-3. 6 x 9. $10.
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg has written a terrific love paean to Kansas. In the process she’s taken us from joy to near despair to joy again, telling us—often with rapturous description and always self-depreciating humor—the story of how she and fellow Kansans lost and then saved the state’s Poet Laureate position. The book is laced with sumptuous travel descriptions of Kansas’s hither and yon. And there are black squirrels, highways stretching to the horizon, outstanding and readable poems scattered in just the right places, as well as the kinds of people who give you the shirts off their backs. Poem on the Range is a needed guide for all those who work for the arts. It’s a gift to all who glory in a place they’ve made home. I’ve always loved Kansas, but Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg will make any reader love Kansas more. ~ Dick Allen, Connecticut State Poet Laureate, 2010-2015, and author of This Shadowy Place (winner of the 2013 New Criterion Poetry Prize), and seven previous poetry collections
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg is our poet warrior. With passion, grit, and humor, she hews an unpredictable path from Jersey girl to Kansas Poet Laureate and beyond in this engaging memoir, itself a tribute to the art (and politics) of poetry. ~Wyatt Townley, Poet Laureate of Kansas
“Our weather keeps everything in perspective, like it or not,” says former Kansas poet laureate, Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg. Poem on the Range describes with joy the miles Mirriam-Goldberg covered barn storming for the art, and offers a sampling of poems by Kansas poets she met along the way, as well as poems by poets she met across state lines. ~ JoAnn Balingit, Poet Laureate of Delaware
Caryn’s book not only recounts her experience as Kansas Poet Laureate, but also reveals how a truly awakened, poetic soul travels our state: with keen, bright eyes and a light heart. Through anecdote and meditation, Caryn reveals the pluck and beauty of our fellow Kansans and her resolve, through everyday action, to preserve and exalt poetry and the arts. ~ Kevin Rabas, author of Sonny Kenner’s Red Guitar
Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg’s voice, in her new memoir, is jaunty, belying the serious nature of her subject matter, a rather heroic effort on her part to shepherd the Kansas Poet Laureate position through a period of limbo following our governor’s defunding of the arts in Kansas. Caryn’s easy prose, along with a wealth of poems from Kansans and others, chronicle her time as Poet Laureate in an informative and enjoyable read, one which underscores the true value of art beyond the poor efforts to monetize it. ~ Bill Sheldon, author of Rain Comes Riding
Poem on the Range is the uplifting literal and metaphorical journey taken by Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg during her tenure as poet laureate. Filled with anecdotes, poems and beautiful descriptions of her beloved state, it is at once a celebration of place and the poetry and poets that weave it together. I felt like I was on the road with Caryn travelling to places I’ve never been before: Hutchinson, Emporia, Wichita and Topeka. What an adventure. There’s even a chapter about dodging tornadoes! Only someone with her spirit could have kept the poet laureate office alive and well during the dark days when the Kansas Arts Commission was dismantled by the acting Governor. Caryn Mirriam-Goldberg’s indomitable spirit shines through on every page of Poem on the Range. What a gift. ~ Marjory Wentworth, South Carolina Poet Laureate