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Thoughts I Left Behind: Collected Poems of William Roetzheim

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In THOUGHTS I LEFT BEHIND, Poet William Roetzheim gathers the reader around the table and tells his stories. An astute observer, he brings the reader along side to witness both the simple and profound moments of his life, and the reader is better for the journey.

Roetzheim pens both free verse and traditional forms equally with ease. A student of poetry himself, his debut collection reads more like that of a seasoned poet. He also happens to be an ambitious writer. In "The Book of Sevens" he tackles the seven deadly sins, seven sacraments, and the seven heavenly virtues. With a wink to the masters, he pays tribute to poets who have gone before him, responding to some of their best-known works in "Responses to the Dead."

Admittedly, some of Roetzheim's poems are too earthy for my Midwestern sensibilities, yet many are worth the price of admission. I found the ones that spoke most to me were the simple reflections, such as "Opera Season": I couldn't attend the opera this season/ The thought of your seat empty next to mine/ was too much to bear. Or "Cottonwood Falls" when the poet talks of walking his St. Bernard and remembers all the other dogs he's walked along that same path over the years.

My recommendation? Take along a copy of THOUGHTS I LEFT BEHIND for your journey.

Roetzheim's poetic techniques include iambic pentameter, villanelle, and free form, addressing subjects that are alternately humorous, whimsical, pensive, thought provoking, or downright beautiful. His goal is to warmly welcome readers into his life.

In this book I found a carefully constructed villanelle, poignant contemplation of the years spent with his wife and what they mean to him, and dozens of incredible poems that stayed in my mind and drew me back to subsequent rereadings.

Roetzheim's use of metaphor is equally adept. In "Guest House" for example, he extols the history of an old Victorian farmhouse:

...she wears her stained glass windows like those jewels

that sparkle on arthritic joints, those cruel

reminders of past youth.

In the touching recollection of his grandfather, "Grandpa Roetzheim", a tool chest becomes the metaphorical equivalent of

one man's hopes and dreams.

With humor and imagination, Roetzheim replies to poetic icons of the past in the sections "Responses to the Dead." Dickinson, Shakespeare, Whitman, Housman, Stevenson and many others are included in his replies to the famous work of dead poets. These sections were priceless, as were the sections in "The Book of Sevens": Seven Deadly Sins, Seven Sacraments, and Seven Heavenly Virtues.

This impressive collection is a tour de force, a must have-must read for those who love poetry that is a pleasure to read and savor. Thoughts I Left Behind is an exceptional collection and highly recommended.

The title of William Roetzheim's "Thoughts I Left Behind" tells it all He agrees with Sophocles that the unexamined life is not worth living, and he sets himself the task of committing to paper the events and meditations of his life that he deems worth sharing-which just happen to coincide with the concerns of the greater part of humanity. He is remarkably adept at capturing the contemporary idiom in traditional forms or the most disciplined of free verses. He pays homage to the masters with responses to those stanzas that most stimulated him to reaffirm, update, or dispute. He speaks to us as one of us about those things that confront us all. He speaks the music of plain speech spoken well. Very well.