Essential Workers

by Michael Poage

84 pages, Paperback

Published June 20, 2025

About the author

I have the honor of being named the Poet-in-Residence at Dzemal Bijedic University in Mostar, Bosnia & Herzegovina for 2017-18. I will be doing workshops and readings around Bosnia (perhaps other countries in the region), teaching ESL which is my part-time job at Wichita State University and doing my writing. This will be my 10th visit to Bosnia but the first time I have lived in country. I am excited and look forward to our time in Bosnia. I have twelve collections of poems published with my 13th book being published by January, 2021.

Reviews

[Julie Ann Baker Ann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wonder how many muses Michael Poage has. At least as many as there are Roman deities, I imagine; a few behave rationally, many act mysteriously. Sometimes Mike invites you to join him on his train of thought ... and sometimes you just need to stand at the depot and watch it go by. He takes on many personas and unapologetically quotes Ludvig Wittgenstein early on: “I should not like my writing to spare other people the trouble of thinking.” Just when I start to believe I’ll never understand poetry again and I’ll need a doctorate course in Michael Poage, he rewards me for my perseverance. There are sweet goodbyes, a bit of whimsy about death, clear memories, and admissions of forgetfulness. Though mostly in English, his words occasionally seem nearly as foreign as the many places he has lived ... then can suddenly feel like the first true words I have ever learned. Don’t be fooled by the slimness of this volume; it is actually quite dense, but its seeming sparseness will invite you to pick it up again. A work by Poage is essential to any poetry collection. #ReadLocalKS

[Cathlina Bergman · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty obscure; not sure what most of them are saying. Liked a handful of them: “In the Silence,” i was the kid,” “Christmas…” “Texas Sonnet”