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Always A Reckoning, and Other Poems. Signed book.
Excellent Book
131 pages, Hardcover
First published November 22, 1994
7 people are currently reading
313 people want to read
About the author
Jimmy Carter
275 books639 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
James Earl Carter, Junior, known as Jimmy, the thirty-ninth president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, creditably established energy-conservation measures, concluded the treaties of Panama Canal in 1978, negotiated the accords of Camp David between Egypt and Israel in 1979, and won the Nobel Prize of 2002 for peace.
Ronald Wilson Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter, the incumbent, in the presidential election of 1980.
He served and received. Carter served two terms in the senate of Georgia and as the 76th governor from 1971 to 1975.
Carter created new Cabinet-level Department of education. A national policy included price decontrol and new technology. From 1977, people reduced foreign oil imports one-half to 1982. In foreign affairs, Carter pursued the second round of strategic arms limitation talks (SALT). Carter sought to put a stronger emphasis on human rights in 1979. People saw his return of the zone as a major concession of influence in Latin America, and Carter came under heavy criticism.
Iranian students in 1979 took over the American embassy and held hostages, and an attempt to rescue them failed; several additional major crises, including serious fuel shortages and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, marked the final year of his tenure. Edward Moore Kennedy challenged significantly higher disapproval ratings of Carter for nomination of the Democratic Party before the election of 1980. Carter defeated Kennedy for the nomination lost the election to Ronald Wilson Reagan, a Republican.
Carter left office and with Rosalynn Smith Carter, his wife, afterward founded the nongovernmental center and organization that works to advance human rights. He traveled extensively to conduct, to observe elections, and to advance disease prevention and eradication in developing nations. He, a key, also figured in the project of habitat for humanity. Carter particularly vocalized on the Palestinian conflict.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/jimmyc...
James Earl Carter, Junior, known as Jimmy, the thirty-ninth president of the United States from 1977 to 1981, creditably established energy-conservation measures, concluded the treaties of Panama Canal in 1978, negotiated the accords of Camp David between Egypt and Israel in 1979, and won the Nobel Prize of 2002 for peace.
Ronald Wilson Reagan defeated Jimmy Carter, the incumbent, in the presidential election of 1980.
He served and received. Carter served two terms in the senate of Georgia and as the 76th governor from 1971 to 1975.
Carter created new Cabinet-level Department of education. A national policy included price decontrol and new technology. From 1977, people reduced foreign oil imports one-half to 1982. In foreign affairs, Carter pursued the second round of strategic arms limitation talks (SALT). Carter sought to put a stronger emphasis on human rights in 1979. People saw his return of the zone as a major concession of influence in Latin America, and Carter came under heavy criticism.
Iranian students in 1979 took over the American embassy and held hostages, and an attempt to rescue them failed; several additional major crises, including serious fuel shortages and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, marked the final year of his tenure. Edward Moore Kennedy challenged significantly higher disapproval ratings of Carter for nomination of the Democratic Party before the election of 1980. Carter defeated Kennedy for the nomination lost the election to Ronald Wilson Reagan, a Republican.
Carter left office and with Rosalynn Smith Carter, his wife, afterward founded the nongovernmental center and organization that works to advance human rights. He traveled extensively to conduct, to observe elections, and to advance disease prevention and eradication in developing nations. He, a key, also figured in the project of habitat for humanity. Carter particularly vocalized on the Palestinian conflict.
http://us.macmillan.com/author/jimmyc...
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews
January 10, 2025
The only poetry book written by President Jimmy Carter. I purchased a signed copy online after he passed away in December 2024, when I learned that he loved to write poetry. I was unaware that this book even existed. This collection is divided into four parts: People, Places, Politics, and Private Lives.
Favorite poems: A Committee of Scholars Describe the Future Without Me; The Ballad of Tom Gordy; Plains; Peanuts; Itinerant Songsters Visit Our Village; and Rosalynn
Favorite poems: A Committee of Scholars Describe the Future Without Me; The Ballad of Tom Gordy; Plains; Peanuts; Itinerant Songsters Visit Our Village; and Rosalynn
August 13, 2019
This was for a challenge of some sort. It was a book my mom had of poetry. Some of these were really good and spoke to me, but some were too old for my time and you could tell were really personal to the author. Some seemed to be pure catharsis for Carter and other seemed to be out of pure joy. Some were very deep and thoughtful. It was an insightful read into his personality.
July 22, 2008
Stood in line to get this signed at the Tattered Cover bookstore in Denver years ago, and had brief conversation with Pres. Carter:
Me: I hope you don't get carpel tunnel syndrome.
He: (small laugh) If I haven't by now, I never will.
Nice memory.
Me: I hope you don't get carpel tunnel syndrome.
He: (small laugh) If I haven't by now, I never will.
Nice memory.
June 25, 2020
I loved every poem, thought, and sentiment In Always a Reckoning. The author has a genuine love for humanity. I enjoyed the way he showed the relationships with his family and his community. I found myself smiling and laughing at points. This book is a short read with lots of love, meaning, and joy on every page.
December 19, 2021
Just when I thought I couldn’t love Jimmy Carter any more I find his poetry and now I love him even more!! His poems were all so endearing and kind and I loved the insight it gave me into his mind!
June 5, 2010
I don't know if Jimmy Carter has a poetic voice or not. Still the stories relayed are very touching. I have grown fond of Carter as a man, and it is his writing (more often essays) which has done this. Thoughtful and sometimes comical. Very telling of the place and times he grew up.
July 6, 2025
"We chosen people, rich and blessed,
rarely come to ask ourselves
if we should share our voice or power,
or a portion of our wealth
...
With apartheid's constant shame
Black miners slave for gems and gold
the wealth and freedom are not theirs;
White masters always keep control.
...
One alone in a Chinese square
confronted tanks, while others fled.
He stood for freedom for us all,
but few care now if he's jailed or dead.
...
We chosen few are truly blessed.
It's clear God does not want us pained
by those who suffer far away
Are we to doubt what He ordained?”
I love to go to the re-store and look through old books and tools. Last trip I found this book and paid $0.50. Turns out it was autographed by Jimmy himself. Score!
Most will tell you he wasn't much of a president. I was a kid then and remember gas lines, hostages in Iran, Soviet expansion and other bad stuff. I also remember treaties, human rights advocacy and a peace prize. He was a good man. This book parallels his presidency. I'm not sure his poetry is the best, but you can surely see the heart of the man. Humble, introspective and kind.
Just think...there was a time not so long ago when we had a president with enough spirit and depth to write poems! Oh how I long for that kind of man again...
rarely come to ask ourselves
if we should share our voice or power,
or a portion of our wealth
...
With apartheid's constant shame
Black miners slave for gems and gold
the wealth and freedom are not theirs;
White masters always keep control.
...
One alone in a Chinese square
confronted tanks, while others fled.
He stood for freedom for us all,
but few care now if he's jailed or dead.
...
We chosen few are truly blessed.
It's clear God does not want us pained
by those who suffer far away
Are we to doubt what He ordained?”
I love to go to the re-store and look through old books and tools. Last trip I found this book and paid $0.50. Turns out it was autographed by Jimmy himself. Score!
Most will tell you he wasn't much of a president. I was a kid then and remember gas lines, hostages in Iran, Soviet expansion and other bad stuff. I also remember treaties, human rights advocacy and a peace prize. He was a good man. This book parallels his presidency. I'm not sure his poetry is the best, but you can surely see the heart of the man. Humble, introspective and kind.
Just think...there was a time not so long ago when we had a president with enough spirit and depth to write poems! Oh how I long for that kind of man again...
May 5, 2022
I picked this up on a whim at some library book sale or other. I found the poems really thoughtful and interesting. I’m not sure I’d want to read them over and over again but I’m glad I read them once. This book made me respect Jimmy Carter even more than I did previously - it gives a lot of insight into how he became who he was.
June 27, 2023
I used to be automatically hostile to celebrity books of verse, but I've mellowed thanks to the ravages of time, exhaustion, despair. Now I have to actually read some of the poems in order to reach old levels of Yosemite Sam-levels of sputtering.
Difficult Times
I try to understand.
I've seen you draw away
and show the pain.
It's hard to know what I can say
to turn things right again,
to have the coolness melt,
to share once more
the warmth we've felt. (p. 91)
Sufferin' succotash! This is just pitiful. It doesn't even qualify as greeting card verse (a much-maligned form of verse that deserves respect as a commercial enterprise, as the work of professions). Carter's verse here shows the importance of "show don't tell," that beginning writer workshop advice that is so valuable. Vague, non-specific ("show the pain" how?), and a bungled attempt at figural language (ice melts, but does "coolness" melt?). It does at least have some form, rhyme, but even here you have to picture Carter's Georgia twang pronouncing "pain/again" in what might be a comical fashion.
There's a lot of vague geo-political virtue-signaling going on too in this slim volume of verse:
A Battle Prayer
All those at war
Pray to obtain
God's blessing.
It's with those in pain. (p. 73)
As some might say about Carter's foreign policy, this is both high-minded and incoherent.
Why We Get Cheaper Tires from Liberia
The miles of rubber trees bend from the sea.
Each of the million acres cost a dime
nearly two Liberian lives ago.
Sweat, too,
has poured like sap from trees, almost free,
from men coerced to work by poverty
and leaders who had sold the people's fields... (p. 83)
Firestone's trees gets a shout-out towards the end, which seems a bit unfair - are other tire manufacturers more humane, less exploitive? Seems like a lot of tires come from China these days; is this better for Liberia? That Carter tackles these topics is admirable - the gross unfairness of the world, the inequalities, the suffering "over there" so we can get cheap stuff. But it is so clumsy!
The plantation kiln's pink bricks
made the homes of overseeing whites
a corporation's pride.
Walls of the same polite bricks divide
the workers' tiny stalls
like cells in honeycombs;
no windows breach the walls,
no pipes or wires bring drink or light
to natives who can never claim
this place as theirs
by digging in the ground..." (p. 83)
It's not the what that bothers me here, but the how; the contrast between overseers and the workers is so sketchy, so vague that a sense of pathos, urgency that Carter may have intended never has a chance. Why would these overseers' homes constitute "corporation's pride"? Corporations take pride in their quarterly earnings if anything. Windows don't "breach" walls; although I know what he means, to "breach a wall" is more of a violent, negative thing, breaching the castle walls you know. Windows are a good thing, but because of Carter's inept handing (using the wrong word, basically), they come off as a bad thing. Wires for light mean power plants and I'll bet Carter doesn't like those! It makes me want to re-read "The Heart of Darkness," where the misery and the corporate-worker contrast is horrifying.
***
The problem with writing poems, from T. S. Eliot on down to Jimmie Carter, is that poetry tends to reveal things, a lot of things you may not have realized you were revealing. This is why, I think, Eliot famously said "Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things."
But is it fair to say Jimmy Carter lacks emotions or personality? Is it fair to say that about anybody? Jimmy Carter, a nonagenarian in hospice as I type this, is a kind of American secular saint, and he does seem to be a decent man; his post-presidential work with Habitat for Humanity is admirable. And once he boils off the poetic sour mash, he can distill some white lightning - not very often, but it is there:
And at the livery stable, one old man
Would always interrupt his checker game
To heckle me. He'd miss the brass spittoon
To spray right at my feet, and then he'd try
To make me sing a song or dance a jig;
I never would, nor cut my price -- but I
Would sometimes feed the mules or sweep the floors
To make a sale.
I loved to deal with drummers
Toting case of their goods to stores.
I think they saw me as a kindred soul
And bought from me the way they hoped to sell. (p. 44)
There is a lot to like here in an autobiographical sense. When Carter foregoes the "gorgeous" versifying and just tells things plainly, he reveals a lot - here you see his energy, tough-mindedness, resistance to anything that was going to diminish him - you can see, perhaps, a bit of that ambition that got Carter to the White House. And you can see his sympathy for other strivers. Just the bit on drummers added a star to this review ("drummer" is an old-fashioned term for a traveling salesman); salesmen take a beating in literature ("Death of a Salesman" is typical). So far in my reading, only Jimmy Carter here and Primo Levy have ever had anything good to say about a salesman.
Carter tries in several places to display his sympathy and understanding for Black people. But as a product of his time, he doesn't seem to understand the dire predicament that people face who are not only poor, but also Black. In the passage above, for instance, refusing that loathsome old man's demand to "sing a song or dance a jig" would not have been an option had Carter been a small Black boy selling peanuts down at the livery stable. But at least Carter paid attention, remembered it, and wrote it down. It is a lot better than a lot of the Cracker Barrel "good old days" nonsense you hear. The good old days were awful, even awfuller than nowadays I'll bet.
Which is to say, Carter is at his best when he sticks to autobiography:
My First Try for Votes
Uneasy in my first campaign,
I feared the likely ridicule,
but got up nerve and neared
some loafers I saw shooting pool.
I caught the eye of an older man
who seemed to know who I might be.
When I went up to him to speak
he cocked a bleary eye at me.
"Now, wait, don't tell me who you are,"
he shouted out. I stood in dread.
Bystanders paused. I blabbed my name.
He frowned. "Naw, that ain't it," he said. (p. 67)
Not bad. The rhyme ridicule/shooting pool is clever and witty. Not Yeats, but not a waste of time.
Difficult Times
I try to understand.
I've seen you draw away
and show the pain.
It's hard to know what I can say
to turn things right again,
to have the coolness melt,
to share once more
the warmth we've felt. (p. 91)
Sufferin' succotash! This is just pitiful. It doesn't even qualify as greeting card verse (a much-maligned form of verse that deserves respect as a commercial enterprise, as the work of professions). Carter's verse here shows the importance of "show don't tell," that beginning writer workshop advice that is so valuable. Vague, non-specific ("show the pain" how?), and a bungled attempt at figural language (ice melts, but does "coolness" melt?). It does at least have some form, rhyme, but even here you have to picture Carter's Georgia twang pronouncing "pain/again" in what might be a comical fashion.
There's a lot of vague geo-political virtue-signaling going on too in this slim volume of verse:
A Battle Prayer
All those at war
Pray to obtain
God's blessing.
It's with those in pain. (p. 73)
As some might say about Carter's foreign policy, this is both high-minded and incoherent.
Why We Get Cheaper Tires from Liberia
The miles of rubber trees bend from the sea.
Each of the million acres cost a dime
nearly two Liberian lives ago.
Sweat, too,
has poured like sap from trees, almost free,
from men coerced to work by poverty
and leaders who had sold the people's fields... (p. 83)
Firestone's trees gets a shout-out towards the end, which seems a bit unfair - are other tire manufacturers more humane, less exploitive? Seems like a lot of tires come from China these days; is this better for Liberia? That Carter tackles these topics is admirable - the gross unfairness of the world, the inequalities, the suffering "over there" so we can get cheap stuff. But it is so clumsy!
The plantation kiln's pink bricks
made the homes of overseeing whites
a corporation's pride.
Walls of the same polite bricks divide
the workers' tiny stalls
like cells in honeycombs;
no windows breach the walls,
no pipes or wires bring drink or light
to natives who can never claim
this place as theirs
by digging in the ground..." (p. 83)
It's not the what that bothers me here, but the how; the contrast between overseers and the workers is so sketchy, so vague that a sense of pathos, urgency that Carter may have intended never has a chance. Why would these overseers' homes constitute "corporation's pride"? Corporations take pride in their quarterly earnings if anything. Windows don't "breach" walls; although I know what he means, to "breach a wall" is more of a violent, negative thing, breaching the castle walls you know. Windows are a good thing, but because of Carter's inept handing (using the wrong word, basically), they come off as a bad thing. Wires for light mean power plants and I'll bet Carter doesn't like those! It makes me want to re-read "The Heart of Darkness," where the misery and the corporate-worker contrast is horrifying.
***
The problem with writing poems, from T. S. Eliot on down to Jimmie Carter, is that poetry tends to reveal things, a lot of things you may not have realized you were revealing. This is why, I think, Eliot famously said "Poetry is not a turning loose of emotion, but an escape from emotion; it is not the expression of personality, but an escape from personality. But, of course, only those have personality and emotions know what it means to want to escape from these things."
But is it fair to say Jimmy Carter lacks emotions or personality? Is it fair to say that about anybody? Jimmy Carter, a nonagenarian in hospice as I type this, is a kind of American secular saint, and he does seem to be a decent man; his post-presidential work with Habitat for Humanity is admirable. And once he boils off the poetic sour mash, he can distill some white lightning - not very often, but it is there:
And at the livery stable, one old man
Would always interrupt his checker game
To heckle me. He'd miss the brass spittoon
To spray right at my feet, and then he'd try
To make me sing a song or dance a jig;
I never would, nor cut my price -- but I
Would sometimes feed the mules or sweep the floors
To make a sale.
I loved to deal with drummers
Toting case of their goods to stores.
I think they saw me as a kindred soul
And bought from me the way they hoped to sell. (p. 44)
There is a lot to like here in an autobiographical sense. When Carter foregoes the "gorgeous" versifying and just tells things plainly, he reveals a lot - here you see his energy, tough-mindedness, resistance to anything that was going to diminish him - you can see, perhaps, a bit of that ambition that got Carter to the White House. And you can see his sympathy for other strivers. Just the bit on drummers added a star to this review ("drummer" is an old-fashioned term for a traveling salesman); salesmen take a beating in literature ("Death of a Salesman" is typical). So far in my reading, only Jimmy Carter here and Primo Levy have ever had anything good to say about a salesman.
Carter tries in several places to display his sympathy and understanding for Black people. But as a product of his time, he doesn't seem to understand the dire predicament that people face who are not only poor, but also Black. In the passage above, for instance, refusing that loathsome old man's demand to "sing a song or dance a jig" would not have been an option had Carter been a small Black boy selling peanuts down at the livery stable. But at least Carter paid attention, remembered it, and wrote it down. It is a lot better than a lot of the Cracker Barrel "good old days" nonsense you hear. The good old days were awful, even awfuller than nowadays I'll bet.
Which is to say, Carter is at his best when he sticks to autobiography:
My First Try for Votes
Uneasy in my first campaign,
I feared the likely ridicule,
but got up nerve and neared
some loafers I saw shooting pool.
I caught the eye of an older man
who seemed to know who I might be.
When I went up to him to speak
he cocked a bleary eye at me.
"Now, wait, don't tell me who you are,"
he shouted out. I stood in dread.
Bystanders paused. I blabbed my name.
He frowned. "Naw, that ain't it," he said. (p. 67)
Not bad. The rhyme ridicule/shooting pool is clever and witty. Not Yeats, but not a waste of time.
June 14, 2017
My sister and her husband gifted me an autograph copy of Jimmy Carter's 1995 poetry book "Always a Reckoning". The book's 43 poems are each beautifully illustrated by Carter's 16 year old granddaughter, Sarah. After reading the first several poems, I decided to continue reading the poetry during daily visits to my favorite church. The poetry and illustrations are inspiring and the morning light of the church gave the poetry just the right ambiance. I enjoyed the book very much and I plan to read it again during visits to parks in my hometown and surrounding area.
July 8, 2011
I have read two other books by Jimmy Carter, "LIVING FAITH" and "SHARING GOOD TIMES" and I really enjoyed them. My brother in law knowing this gave me a book of poems by Jimmy Carter entitled "Always A Reckoning". This book is divided into four sections,PEOPLE,PLACES,POLITICS,and PRIVATE LIVES. I have to admit even though I don't read a lot of poetry I really enjoyed this book. If read from front cover to back cover you can actually learn a lot about MR. Carter's life.
July 5, 2017
Yes, these poems are by our 39th President. These poems are reflections on his life, from being raised on a farm in Plains, GA to going in stocking feet in a submarine listening to the "...wild sea sounds, the scratch of shrimp..." and the songs of whales.
His style of poetry is not what I normally read (I prefer un-rhymed narrative poems) but these present a good insight to this remarkable man. Well worth the read.
His style of poetry is not what I normally read (I prefer un-rhymed narrative poems) but these present a good insight to this remarkable man. Well worth the read.
February 4, 2008
This was a good collection of poems. It ran shortly across the bulk of the life of our great former president. One does not only get to see him as a person but gets to know that he sees things as we do. I enjoyed reading this as well as noting the illustrations. His poems catch the simple side of life and also bring some of the complexities of being president into simple verse.
June 7, 2007
A Christmas gift from my father. He had autographed for me. He said Carters eyes are like huge deep clear blue pools of water. It may not be the best poetry I've ever read but it's worthy of a read now and then.
February 14, 2010
I really enjoyed this book of poems. It was a gift from a colleague at work and I was a bit unsure if I had any interest in reading it, but I finally did and was pleasantly entertained by his poems.
Check it out if you enjoy poetry.
Check it out if you enjoy poetry.
June 16, 2012
I rather enjoyed this book of poems by our former President, showed be a great deal of insight into his compassion for his fellow human beings. A book to keep and re-read passages from time-to-time.
February 8, 2014
I didn't really even know that Jimmy Carter was a poet. The poems were sort of short and simple, like little snippets of memoir, but helped to paint a more rounded picture of the ex- president than I had had before. Easy to read and pretty straightforward.
March 28, 2007
If I were a bigger fan of reading poetry I might like this book more. I think I just really like Jimmy Carter. The poem about being with the girl with leprosy is awesome.
August 13, 2007
Jimmy Carter is a surprisingly thoughtful poet. There are a lot of poems about the South and such. They're not bad, they're just not my taste.
May 6, 2008
As far as I can discover, Jimmy Carter is the only American president ever to publish a book of poetry. The quality is uneven, but some of the best poems here are quite good.
September 8, 2008
The former president reminds me of my dad. I read everything he has written.
July 31, 2013
The poetry was a bit better than I expected. The stories in them were not quite as interesting as I had hoped for.
August 15, 2013
This is a delightful little book of poems penned by former President Carter. Although he is no master of poetic technique, several of his poems brought tears to my eyes.
June 10, 2016
Although the poetry won't win awards, the honesty and humanity of a life well lived shine through with touching warmth.
March 5, 2017
I was pleasantly surprised by these.
October 28, 2018
We had a president who wrote poems. Isn't that nice?
February 3, 2025
U.S. Presidents, with a few conspicuous exceptions, are prolific writers. Only Jimmy Carter among them ever published a book of poetry, which certainly makes one wonder how many dabbled in verse over the years without putting themselves under that particular microscope. Carter revealed himself in these poems, though this self was not too different from his public persona. The poems are a self-portrait of a humble, curious, and passionate admirer of righteousness and detester of hypocrisy, who believed in the goodness of his people and made no excuses for their faults. The author was a man of faith, a farmer and woodsman, a scientist, a sailor, and an advocate for the arts and for artists, and incidentally a fairly successful politician. Not such a complicated guy, is he?
These are amateur poems in the best sense of the word, as they were written to express a powerful love inside of their author, and make up for their lack of professional finesse with a wide-open honesty and a good eye for the deeper significance of the mundane. He makes no secret of how his subjects make him feel, and he invites us to feel it with him, in the best tradition of popular poetry.
These are amateur poems in the best sense of the word, as they were written to express a powerful love inside of their author, and make up for their lack of professional finesse with a wide-open honesty and a good eye for the deeper significance of the mundane. He makes no secret of how his subjects make him feel, and he invites us to feel it with him, in the best tradition of popular poetry.
May 25, 2024
This little book was a pleasant find when I recently went through a box (one of many) of my mother’s books and photo albums. I first met President Carter when I was a teenager and he was the Governor of our state. I later went on to march in his inaugural parade as a member of the UGA Redcoat Band in 1977. I never knew, though, that he’d had a book of poetry published in 1995. To be honest, I don't believe every entry can be defined as “poetry” as many pieces in the collection seemed to be short essays awkwardly grouped into verses to resemble a poem. However, there were treasures and many selections that used humor, honesty, vulnerability, and humility to evoke emotions and move me. A poem entitled “I Wanted to Share My Father's World” almost perfectly described my relationship with my own father and, thus, was my favorite.
March 20, 2023
This book -- I usually reserve five-star ratings for books that are spiritually uplifting. Well, this book was.
President Jimmy Carter has always had my respect as a person and President although I didn't agree with him on every political and econiomic issue.
Now he has my respect and affection as a poet. I'm late to the party -- this book was published in 1995 -- but better late than never. The President's sweet vignettes of People, Places, Politics, and Private Lives, as he subtitles them, are intimate, genuine, and warm. The poetry itself is...sweet. Reading it feels like going home even though Georgia is not my home. Carter's memories invoke nostalgia and his values are admirable and inspiring.
It's 126 pages long. Give yourself a gift and read it.
President Jimmy Carter has always had my respect as a person and President although I didn't agree with him on every political and econiomic issue.
Now he has my respect and affection as a poet. I'm late to the party -- this book was published in 1995 -- but better late than never. The President's sweet vignettes of People, Places, Politics, and Private Lives, as he subtitles them, are intimate, genuine, and warm. The poetry itself is...sweet. Reading it feels like going home even though Georgia is not my home. Carter's memories invoke nostalgia and his values are admirable and inspiring.
It's 126 pages long. Give yourself a gift and read it.
December 26, 2023
Our former president, Jimmy Carter, is an amazing man. (He is 99 years old) Before I read this first published book of his poetry, I didn't know of his beginning life or that he is such an accomplished author.
He writes of his simple beginnings as put together, gathering cotton, weeding, and digging peanuts. Without naming him, the love for his father was evident.
Youthful work and fun with all the people in his small world taught Jimmy to respect people for who they were, not the color of their skin.
Always a Reckoning is a short collection of thoughts, events, and memories. My favorite poem is "With Words We Learn to Hate.""
I look forward to reading some more of President Carter's writings. He has written over 60 published works.
He writes of his simple beginnings as put together, gathering cotton, weeding, and digging peanuts. Without naming him, the love for his father was evident.
Youthful work and fun with all the people in his small world taught Jimmy to respect people for who they were, not the color of their skin.
Always a Reckoning is a short collection of thoughts, events, and memories. My favorite poem is "With Words We Learn to Hate.""
I look forward to reading some more of President Carter's writings. He has written over 60 published works.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 58 reviews