The 65 poems in this volume are about a boy who later flies as an Air Force pilot, marries a beautiful woman and who goes home after a war to friends and family. The poems celebrate the wonder and need of all occasions, the heartache and longing and joy of being alone or loved.

The 65 poems in this volume are about a boy who later flies as an Air Force pilot, marries a beautiful woman and who goes home after a war to friends and family. The poems celebrate the wonder and need of all occasions, the heartache and longing and joy of being alone or loved.

For years, I ve wondered in amazement how Walt McDonald does what he does, poem after poem, book after book. He sings like no one else. In "Climbing the Divide," McDonald has made his strongest collection of poems yet. David Citino, author of "The News and Other Poems"
"Climbing the Divide" must have been written with a pen Walt McDonald dipped into his heart. Crisscrossing generations, poems detail watching a grandfather with knuckles the size of walnuts carve a grizzly bear out of oak, taking car keys away from a father who drove tanks for Patton and thinking about nights in the jungle...

For years, I ve wondered in amazement how Walt McDonald does what he does, poem after poem, book after book. He sings like no one else. In "Climbing the Divide," McDonald has made his strongest collection of poems yet. David Citino, author of "The News and Other Poems"
"Climbing the Divide" must have been written with a pen Walt McDonald dipped into his heart. Crisscrossing generations, poems detail watching a grandfather with knuckles the size of walnuts carve a grizzly bear out of oak, taking car keys away from a father who drove tanks for Patton and thinking about nights in the jungle...

Who more than the Southwesterners who ve boldly claimed their home under the same tornado skies could have more cause to celebrate the millennium? And a celebration is exactly what Neugebauer and McDonald have forged in the historic photographs and poems they ve paired to tell the story of the settlement and so much more.Eighty-three photographs from Texas Tech University s Southwest Collection s bounty of more than 500,000 reflect needs basic to all humankind: food, clothing, shelter, government, recreation, and spirituality.McDonald s new and selected poems connect to the moments in time...

2005 SPUR Award WinnerA West Texas starscape, stunning by any measure, is emblematic of Walt McDonald s plains. A lifelong celebration culminates in this, his best and perhaps last collection of new poems. At seventy, the poet affirms, we live by the mystery of grace even as we watch familiar stars blink out at dawn. For he believes God knows we are dust / and counts our steps. In Leaving the Middle Years, he writes, At our age, / every day is grace and every breath / a blessing. Life is grass, stunningly brief / but abundant in so many ways. Walt writes about heroes a mother who taught...

Walt McDonald was named Texas State Poet Laureate in 2001. This is just one accolade in his distinguished writing career. He established the Creative Writing program at Texas Tech University, serving as poetry editor there from 1975 to 1995, and retired May 2002 as Paul Whitfield Horn Professor of English and Poet-in-Residence. He was a member of the literature advisory panel for the Texas Commission on the Arts from 1986 to 1988. He won four Western Heritage Awards from the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and six awards from the Texas Institute of Letters (including the Lon Tinkle...