Ernest S Klepeis

Finding Our Road Ernest S Klepeis

Ernest Klepeis' third book promises a return to the nostalgic tendencies of a young writer coupled with brief passages on place-based memory. Klepeis touches upon the frames of romance, movement, nostalgia and wandering with more care than most writers in their twenties. This collection of poetry is sure to give you something to chew on. As Ernest puts it in the opening pages: Reading poetry is like chopping down a tree: you don't hack at it with abandon, but carefully select where your blade will impact the wood and sink. This time around Klepeis has included his own cutout illustrations of scenes loosely matching the content of the surrounding passages. It's clear he has continued to improve his technical ability. His third book does not suffer from some of the mistakes found in his earlier work. As far as we're concerned, this is a book of poetry that you'll find yourself coming back to when you least expect it. It may not seem like the words and phrases stick with you, but months after reading you might be surprised to find yourself pondering a passage while weeding the garden or standing in line at the bank. There's no guarantee implied, just an inclination that this work has more worth to it than can be seen at first glance. There's something here for everyone. So we implore you: sit quietly, light a candle, and enter the disjointed thoughts of a twenty something white poet in America.