Paul Stroble is a semi-retired instructor of history, philosophy and religious studies. A grantee of the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Louisville Institute, he has written several books, primarily church related, and numerous articles, essays, and curricular materials. His previous chapbooks with Finishing Line Press are Dreaming at the Electric Hobo (2015), Little River (2017), Small Corner of the Stars (2017), Backyard Darwin (2019), and Galápagos Joy (2023), as well as the full-length Walking Lorton Bluff (2020), Four Mile (2022), and East Rock (2024).
PRAISE:
Paul Stroble creates magic, music, and poetry out of his family history and personal geography. His graceful poems are unsentimental, at times heartbreaking, at times soul inspiring. This book has the richness of great historical narrative combined with a special artistry that makes the feelings of the people and places seem contemporary. This is a beautiful book that I—and you—will return to many times.
–Tom Dukes, author of Gospels from the Lower Shelf
Paul Stroble writes a beautiful poem about Comfort Williams, our ancestor: her history, hardships, and challenges. Paul writes with love for his own family today, with humor and faith. I enjoyed his poem! It touched my heart.
–Susan Koehler Koch, retired LPN and church secretary, Paul’s cousin
Paul Stroble spins many tales forward and backward from his 3rd great grandmother’s grave near his hometown, Vandalia, IL. While he suggests that “You may consider this poem/My grief rendered as a landscape,” he in fact also tells of hopes, triumphs, and joys in the places where he has built his adult life and the travels that resonate with his ancestors’ pasts and the history he has made with his own family. As he vividly shows, our histories are grounded in places that command our attention.
–Kim Kleinman, Webster University
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