Six Stops South, Poems by Steven Schroeder
The calm, contemplative poems of Steven Schroeder's Six Stops South do not shy away from an engagement with the physical world, reaching through that physicality into a deeper sense of spiritual import, as exemplified by "Gravity":
They’ll try to tell you gravity
keeps your feet on the ground,
but it’s the weight of mountains
clasping you to earth,
transposed here into air
so heavy it reminds you
that you lift the world
with every step.
Sample Poems by Steven Schroeder
“In his new collection of poetry, Steven Schroeder revels in the radiance of the natural world, bestowing the seasons with the force of character. These fine poems grace their pages with the simple yet powerful elegance of Oriental watercolors, belying the complexity of thought and spiritual yearning and fulfillment infusing their subtle, pastel hues. Schroeder’s allusions are as impressive as his erudition, ranging from Wittgenstein to Yevtushenko; from Du Fu and Beethoven to Mozart and Mendelssohn. Through his skillful use of striking natural imagery and with a compression of language reminiscent of Dickinson, Schroeder leaves his readers dazzled in the now, ‘walking on water and carrying nothing.’”—Larry D. Thomas, 2008 Texas Poet Laureate
“Steven Schroeder’s poems ring with a mature and enriching sensitivity to the simplest things of the earth, evocations of nature’s miracles and realities, and with authoritative and wise images and insights into life among the rooftops and side streets of the city. There is a remarkable clarity of voice and dexterity of vision in these pages, where the smallest things, the ‘nothings’ of this world, are endowed with a wholeness of meaning that ‘lifts the world/with every step.’ The rich, plain-spoken and deeply American voice here is graced and shaped as well by the influence of farther horizons, and each of these poems becomes an epiphanic moment, unique and marvelous, that resonates with the pure joy of what it means to be truly alive.”—Jonas Zdanys, poet-translator, author of Salt (Virtual Artists Collective, 2007)
“Steven Schroeder perceives intention in nature and nature in humankind, and whether he is contemplating early spring flowers pushing through snow or a woman slipping off her shoes to board a bus, he is attuned to the force that through life makes beauty and mischief. In Six Stops South, a collection at once crisply philosophical and elegantly imagistic, Schroeder writes of the paradoxes and mysteries all around us with wry wit and bemused wisdom, distilling complex observations into masterful lyrics; generous, resonant, and glimmering poems rich in implication and compassion and a profound pleasure to read and ponder.”—Donna Seaman, associate editor for ALA Booklist, author of Writers on the Air: Conversations about Books (Paul Dry Books, 2005), and host of Open Books Radio
“Steven Schroeder’s poetry is the equivalent of a gourmet meal, combining his prodigious academic and cultural experiences with his equally powerful everyman emotions. If he were a lesser poet, he’d serve us a confusing, unsatisfying mash. Being anything but lesser, the poetry he delivers enhances the subject of each poem with a roux that amplifies our experience with some of the tastiest details this side of Yeats. Or Wordsworth. Or Ginsberg. Enjoy!”—Charlie Newman, author of deadmachinecity (Fractal Edge Press, 2005), host of the First Friday reading series and the Cafe Open Mic (Chicago)
Steven Schroeder received his Ph.D. in Ethics and Society from the University of Chicago in 1982. He is the co-founder, with composer Clarice Assad, of the Virtual Artists Collective (a “virtual” gathering of musicians, poets, and visual artists) and (when the pieces fall into place) teaches peace studies, philosophy, and poetry at Shenzhen University in China. Whether the pieces fall into place or not, he lives and writes in Chicago and on the road to Texas. He grew up in the Texas Panhandle, where he first learned to take nothing seriously, and his poetry continues to be rooted in the experience of the Plains as well as the experience of Chicago and Shenzhen. His work has appeared or is forthcoming in Concho River Review, the Cresset, Druskininkai Poetic Fall 2005, Georgetown Review, Karamu, Mid-America Poetry Review, Poetry East, Rhino, Shichao, Sichuan Literature, Texas Review, and other literary journals. He has published two chapbooks, Theory of Cats and Revolutionary Patience, and two full-length collections, Fallen Prose and The Imperfection of the Eye.
ISBN-13: 978-1934999431, 80 pages ,$18.00