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Vanishing Point
Vanishing Point concerns memory, cognition, history, and morality, as experienced through the process of aging and as seen largely through a seriocomic lens. The range is wide, from arrestingly dark to downright hilarious—sometimes both at once—and all stages in-between. The poet Jim Daniels has said about this book, “With profound wit and humility, with a purity and clarity of language that defines our best poetry, [Trowbridge] takes us on a wild ride and gives us our money’s worth.” The last section contains poems from Trowbridge’s graphic chapbook Superhero, with several new poems added to that series.
- GenresPoetry
144 pages, Kindle Edition
Published April 20, 2017
About the author
William Trowbridge
63 books6 followersWilliam Trowbridge holds a B.A. in Philosophy and an M. A. in English from the University of Missouri-Columbia and a Ph.D. in English from Vanderbilt University. In April, 2012, he was appointed to a two-year term as Poet Laureate of Missouri.
His poetry publications include six full collections: Put This On, Please (Red Hen Press, 2014), Ship of Fool (Red Hen Press, 2011), The Complete Book of Kong (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2003), Flickers, O Paradise, and Enter Dark Stranger (University of Arkansas Press, 2000, 1995, 1989). He has also published three chapbooks, The Packing House Cantata (Camber Press, 2006), The Four Seasons (Red Dragonfly Press, 2001), and The Book of Kong (Iowa State University Press, 1986).
His poems have appeared in more than 30 anthologies and textbooks, as well as in such periodicals as Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, Crazyhorse, The Georgia Review, Boulevard, The Southern Review, Columbia, Colorado Review, The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Epoch, and New Letters. He has given readings and workshops at schools, colleges, bookstores, and literary conferences throughout the United States. His awards include an Academy of American Poets Prize, a Pushcart Prize, a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference scholarship, a Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award, and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Ragdale, Yaddo, and The Anderson Center.
He is a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Northwest Missouri State University, where he was an editor of The Laurel Review/GreenTower Press from 1986 to 2004. Now living in Lee’s Summit, MO, he teaches in the University of Nebraska low-residency MFA in writing program.
His poetry publications include six full collections: Put This On, Please (Red Hen Press, 2014), Ship of Fool (Red Hen Press, 2011), The Complete Book of Kong (Southeast Missouri State University Press, 2003), Flickers, O Paradise, and Enter Dark Stranger (University of Arkansas Press, 2000, 1995, 1989). He has also published three chapbooks, The Packing House Cantata (Camber Press, 2006), The Four Seasons (Red Dragonfly Press, 2001), and The Book of Kong (Iowa State University Press, 1986).
His poems have appeared in more than 30 anthologies and textbooks, as well as in such periodicals as Poetry, The Gettysburg Review, Crazyhorse, The Georgia Review, Boulevard, The Southern Review, Columbia, Colorado Review, The Iowa Review, Prairie Schooner, Epoch, and New Letters. He has given readings and workshops at schools, colleges, bookstores, and literary conferences throughout the United States. His awards include an Academy of American Poets Prize, a Pushcart Prize, a Bread Loaf Writers’ Conference scholarship, a Camber Press Poetry Chapbook Award, and fellowships from The MacDowell Colony, Ragdale, Yaddo, and The Anderson Center.
He is a Distinguished University Professor Emeritus at Northwest Missouri State University, where he was an editor of The Laurel Review/GreenTower Press from 1986 to 2004. Now living in Lee’s Summit, MO, he teaches in the University of Nebraska low-residency MFA in writing program.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 27, 2024
William Trowbridge was the Poet Laureate of Missouri for several years, and I’ve often heard him read at The Writers Place in Kansas City, where we both hang out. I have all his poetry books and have heard many of these poems before reading them in this collection.
This book contains his usual mix, including persona poems: in this case, Old Guy, Superhero. (My all-time favorite of his personae is King Kong, from the 1933 movie, in other collections.) He also gives us his wry take on pop culture, old songs, movies, Spike Jones, cars, cartoon characters, etc. What most appeals to me in this collection are the more vulnerable poems about his father returning from World War II and the effects of this angry stranger’s return.
In “Welcome Home,” he describes an old black and white photo:
“…me dwarfed
beneath his service cap, both of us
looking as if the other might bite,
warrior and baby joined
by biology and chance…
…We must have
looked like aliens, my mother, sister,
and I, so plump and washed and green,
our neighborhood hospitable as Mars.”
This book contains his usual mix, including persona poems: in this case, Old Guy, Superhero. (My all-time favorite of his personae is King Kong, from the 1933 movie, in other collections.) He also gives us his wry take on pop culture, old songs, movies, Spike Jones, cars, cartoon characters, etc. What most appeals to me in this collection are the more vulnerable poems about his father returning from World War II and the effects of this angry stranger’s return.
In “Welcome Home,” he describes an old black and white photo:
“…me dwarfed
beneath his service cap, both of us
looking as if the other might bite,
warrior and baby joined
by biology and chance…
…We must have
looked like aliens, my mother, sister,
and I, so plump and washed and green,
our neighborhood hospitable as Mars.”
August 23, 2017
This was a pleasure to read, as Trowbridge's poetry consistently is. Whether calling up an aspect of a past era, a particular take on some part of the present, or the purely imaginary in a symbolic way look at other things, the images are strong, vivid, and interesting. The thought line through those images is at times intensely humorous, and at other times sad, appreciative of life, supportive of our shared human foibles, and a hundred other things. There is a great deal in the short lines of these poems, and all of it is good.
August 26, 2017
Never underestimate what might be coming from William Trowbridge. Trowbridge, former Missouri Poet Laureate, keeps finding new personas to step into. This collection includes his Old Guy poems from the beautiful and clever Old Guy Super Hero comic book but plenty of new material to keep his readers laughing, nodding, and being awed at how he can discuss the highly serious or philosophical while all the time you are totally amused.
I've read and have all of Bill's books, and this is another of his many hits. I highly recommend it and know you'll have a good time.
I've read and have all of Bill's books, and this is another of his many hits. I highly recommend it and know you'll have a good time.
November 14, 2018
"F"ing amazing! I'm glad I own a copy. Trowbridge is on the top of his game, his wit and humor power poems with the sharpness and beauty of a straight razor. Poems like Hier Gibt Es Blaubeeren shows the pastoral lies that cover the horrors humans unleash on each other.
June 13, 2024
Feels like insider baseball for a different generation. It’s impossible to deny Throwbridge’s ability to write and how good he leads you through a post you think you know then you turn a corner and he blindsided you. “Mowing” and “Vanishing Point” are two favorites. Didn’t care for the “Oldguy” series. Overall, I enjoyed my time spent.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews