New Digital Press book blends poetry, baseball and memoir
Former major leaguer John Poff blends poetry and baseball in new book published by The Digital Press at UND
There are few things more American than baseball and poetry.
John Poff’s debut collection, “Out of My Life and Two Visions,” brings the two together in a searching memoir that finds meaning in minor league baseball stadiums, dimly lit bars, lonely highways and cozy kitchens. Poff played seven years as a professional ball player, including major league stints with the Milwaukee Brewers and Philadelphia Phillies. His essays have appeared in a number of baseball periodicals and his poetry, most recently, in North Dakota Quarterly.
The book of poetic essays centers on two visions that transformed how Poff thought about his (and our) place in the world. They help organize a life defined as much by baseball as his career as an English teacher, Kototama prayer, acupuncture and a sustained encounter with Native American communities and their spirituality.
The book leads off with Poff’s most famous essay “Donnie Moore: A Racial Memoir.” In this incisive essay, Poff turns his encounter with the tragic figure of Donnie Moore while playing minor league baseball into a poignant and uncensored meditation on race in America. The heart of the line-up goes deeper, weaving together humor, mysticism, road stories and memories into a poignant exploration of our place in the universe.
Paul Worley, who wrote the introduction to this book, notes: “Many people will pick up this book because it’s a fine addition to the canon of baseball literature. It is certainly that but to be clear it is not just or only baseball literature.”
Poff connects these seemingly disparate threads by observing: “Whether playing ball or practicing acupuncture or teaching or hiking to the top of Thunder Butte, there is a world not necessarily in conflict with rational thought but outside of it, at least to some degree. And my idea is these other capacities should lead the way, so to speak, more often than we allow.”
Paul Worley sums up Poff’s work like this: “John Poff is an incredibly talented literary writer in voice, vocabulary and craft. In my view, as a visionary, John carries on the proud literary tradition of writers like Blake and Ginsberg, those who dare to see the world as it is, as it REALLY is, and as it COULD be if we simply had the courage.”
William Caraher, the publisher at The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota and the editor of North Dakota Quarterly adds: “It is a privilege to publish John’s work, both with The Digital Press and with NDQ. His willingness to take the time to visit with the students in the Practicum in Writing, Editing, and Publishing class who helped to copy edit and design the book, made this project both professional and personal.”
Like all books published by The Digital Press at the University of North Dakota, “Out of My Life and Two Visions” is published as a low-cost paperback and a free open access digital download. For more on the book, visit its Digital Press webpage.
