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Robert McDowell, The Poetry Mentor, believes that everyone is born with a soul-poem, the prayer-song that awakens each hero's journey, tells each person's unique story, and connects one to divinity. He navigates his life through poetry, and he teaches others to do the same. Author/editor/translator of ten books of poetry and prose, McDowell has said of his work, ""I don't preach, promote one religion over another, psychoanalyze, prescribe drugs, or promise you wealth in (pick your number) easy steps. I can show you how writing poetry and journaling enriches your family life, relationships, and job performance. I can show you how fun writing can be. If you have a specific project you'd like to do (a book of poetry, stories, memoir, family history, essays), I can draw on my experience as a publisher and editor of 250 books to get it done. I teach workshops that benefit everyone--beginners and longtime authors. I'll read your poems and listen to your stories. I'll give honest feedback and compassionate encouragement. I'll stick with you."" McDowell is a sought-after public speaker on a variety of topics from Neurotheology, the hero's journey, and the soul-poem of work to the guide of the spirit horse and living a life of integrity and awareness. He has led workshops at Esalen, Kripalu, Pine Manor Retreat Center, California Poets-in-the-Schools, and many universities and writing conferences here and abroad. He created the community outreach program, The Rural Readers Project, and was co-founder of Story Line Press, which he led as director and editor for twenty-two years.
McDowell's poems are arresting, humorous, and strangely surrealistic. They recall the work of poets like George Hitchcock, Charles Bukowski, and the early Robert Creeley. In one poem, a man makes a withdrawal at Donut Bank ; in another, a librarian tells her patrons, you are eating a marvelous story. McDowell also demonstrates considerable narrative power, as in the title poem, which concerns an unknown aviator in the Lindbergh era. Other poems chronicle our more recent era of broken marriages, lost jobs, and urban violencea world of cordless phones (his favorite image), People magazine and peanut butter/ Squares. This is an intriguing first book, original in its phrasing and unfailingly sensitive to the pathos and humor that define our lives. Recommended for larger collections. -Daniel L. Guillory, English Dept., Millikin Univ., Decatur, Ill. Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc., Library Journal
