Publication Date: June 4, 2024

Author: John W. Kropf

Publisher: Bottom Dog Press

Format: Paperback

ISBN: 978-1947504448

Size: 6" x 9"

Price: $16.00

Pages: 88

Ebook Format Available: Kindle, $8.00

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Reviews

 

"John Kropf is a time traveler, and A Midwestern Heart is a beautifully wrought inventory of the pleasures of a lost, mid-century America. These poems are elegies for TV test patterns, the moon landing, making your own toy parachute with your grandfather, flying kites, using empty 7-Up cans and lighter fluid to fire tennis balls over the neighborhood. Kropf chronicles the last days of a predigital childhood, before America went online. These poems, by turns funny, sad, and achingly lyrical, remind me of why I came to poetry in the first place."

​—George Bilgere, author of Imperial

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"Whoever you are, in John Kropf’s collection, A Midwestern Heart, you will find something to identify with or remember. As a former Midwesterner, I recall the long lawns of the Republic I mowed as described in this book, as well as the sense of nearing Winter that summoned me home as a child. But I also, as a city dweller, recall the fantastic poem about entering a Metro station early on a rainy morning, as well as the humorous poem about dry cleaning that compares it to Sisyphus’ punishment, 'repeat for eternity.' I believe that anyone who opens this book will find their own touch-points that will vividly bring back a moment of time, a bit of personal history. And it’s all written with a practiced hand that captures the Midwest beautifully, accurately, and with as much as heart as the poet could give."

—Donald Illich, author of Chance Bodies

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"In John Kropf's first collection of poetry, the images may come from the Midwest, but the sentiments are universal. An adult remembering boyhood realizes that we never know when it will be the last time we play in the yard. 'Hometown' assures us that memories never fade: they are 'right where I left them.' Even what we discard carries its weight: in 'The End of History,' trash becomes our "discarded histories." In subsequent sections of the book, the images go farther afield. 'Lost City' shows us the point of view of the last inhabitant who leaves, turning that city into a tomb, but also that of the first who declares at sunrise that a hillside would be a city. There is humor here as well: coffee is a dark redeemer from an exotic land, while feet can save your soul. These free verse poems tell of time, memory, boyhood, and the idea that although the past is gone, it is never lost."

—Deborah Fleming, author of Earthrise

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Media

 

New Poetry Book Harkens Back to Man's Childhood

Sandusky Register, July 11, 2024