Book of the Week: Poems Along the Path

Our Book of the Week is Poems Along the Path by American poet Michael Thaler. A diagnosis of incurable cancer spurred Michael to create this poetic record, some free verse and some haiku, which amply shows a deepening appreciation for life and for what was left of his own life. It is tragic that such fine poetry had to come from the consciousness of mortality, yet it is often the way. A fine read you will want to return to, with excellent photographs by the poet, Poems Along the Path was put together and published posthumously by family and friends as a tribute to man’s enduring spirit.

At the Cotton Club
is that Duke Ellington’s ghost
in the pinstriped suit?

Diving, surfacing, diving again
A lone cormorant
Probing the Hudson’s secrets

New York shopkeeper
smooths his trousers, combs his hair
poses for a shot

You can read the entire book in the THF Digital Library.

Do you have a chapbook published 2010 or earlier you would like featured as a Book of the Week? Contact us for details.

Haiku featured in the Book of the Week Archive are selected by THF Digital Librarian Garry Eaton, and are used with permission