The Sweet Bite
of Morning

Tom Montag

The Sweet Bite of Morning
Tom Montag

Northeast/Juniper Press
PO Box 8037
St. Paul, Minnesota 55108-0037
ISBN: 1-5580-167-3
Nineteen selections from "Plain Poems: A Fairwater Daybook"
$5.00
(plus $2.00 shipping & handling)

Order from
Northeast/Juniper Press (above)
---
Or from
Tom Montag, PO Box 8, Fairwater, WI 53931

This work establishes a new direction
for Montag's poetry.
Here he attempts to set the particulars
of his days and the place he inhabits
into their larger context, so that,
as he would have it,
this moment becomes every moment,
this place is every place.


 

MAY 30, 2001
Originally published in Hummingbird magazine.

A great blue heron feeds along the creek.
If we approach close enough to see over

the rise that hides it, we frighten the bird.
Either we can have it and not see it

or we can see it and not have it.
The great wideness launches itself, lifting from

water to sky, its wings so blue, blue, blue.

 


THE SWEET BITE OF MORNING
Reviewed by Denise Hill, newpages.com

From the review:
"I was able to visualize a literal blossoming, as the poems moved from observations of snow shifting across roadways and fields, to the warmth of spring, the emergence of new life, and on to the intense clear blue sky heat of summer. Montag provides an incredible journey across time and season that any true Midwesterner can actually feel in their skin."

"On second read, Montag's seemingly simple style reveals a much greater depth of thought and complexity, and at times is playful in its imagery and wording...."

"Montag truly taps the searching nature of human experience in a number of these poems, searching that sometimes comes to resolution, and sometimes not."

"Montag's strength in this work is his brevity and concise use of language, with a special ability to create strong and lasting images through his choice of details."

"I will look forward to reading more of his writing in this direction, as well as going back and catching up with where he's been."

READ THE COMPLETE REVIEW AT
newpages.com

 

Tom Montag is a middle western poet and essayist interested in understanding the significance of place in our lives. His memoir of growing up on an Iowa farm, Curlew:Home, was published in 2001 and his essays about writing and being a writer, Kissing Poetry's Sister, in 2002. Montag's five-year project, "Vagabond in the Middle," wrestles with understanding what makes people middle western. He reports on his visits to middle western towns in the Vagabond in the Middle newsletter and at www.wlhn.org/vagabond.
He has been a featured writer at www.ourcommongroundmag.com since spring of 2003.

Other Publications by Tom Montag

Poetry
Wooden Nickel (Albatross Press, Milwaukee, 1972)
Twelve Poems (Monday Morning Press, Milwaukee, 1972)
Measures (Harpoon Press, Milwaukee, 1972)
To Leave / This Place (Monday Morning Press, 1972)
Making Hay (Fault Publications, Fremont, Ca., 1973)
Making Hay & Other Poems (Pentagram Press, Milwaukee, 1975)
Ninety Notes (Pentagram Press, Milwaukee, 1976)
Naming the Creeks (Morgan Press, Milwaukee, 1976)
Letters Home (Sparrow Press, West Lafayette, Ind., 1979)
This Gathering Season (Juniper Press, La Crosse, 1980)
Between Zen and Midwestern (salt-works press, Vineyard Haven, Mass., 1981)
Middle Ground (Midwestern Writers Publishing House, Fairwater, Wisc., 1982)
From the Essential Ben Zen (Juniper Press, La Crosse, 1992)
Ben Zen: Starting from Home (Page 5, Appleton, Wisc., 1994)
Ben Zen: The Ox of Paradox (Cross + Roads Press, Ellison Bay, Wisc., 1999)
Ben Zen: The More I Know (Hummingbird Press, Richland Center, Wisc., 2000)

Criticism
Learning to Read/Again (Cat's Pajama's Press, Oak Park, Ill., 1976)
Concern/s: Essays & Reviews 1972-1976 (Pentagram Press, Milwaukee, 1977)
Stalking the Little Magazine (Midwestern Writers' Publishing House, Fairwater, Wisc., 1981)

Memoir/Essays
Curlew:Home - Essays & a Journey Back (Midday Moon Books, Waite Park, Minn., 2001)
Kissing Poetry's Sister (A Joint Venture Publication, Waite Park & Fairwater, 2002)

Related Experience
Editor and Publisher, Margins: A Review of Little Magazines and Small Press Books, 1972-1976
Copy Editor and Feature Writer, Fox River Patriot, 1977-1979
Editor and Publisher (with Mary Montag), Wisconsin Poets' Calendar, 1982-1984
Publicity Officer, Fairwater Historical Society, 1999 to present

ISBN: 1-5580-167-3
26 pages, $5.00 (plus $2.00 shipping & handling)
Order from:
Northeast/Juniper Press, PO Box 8037, St. Paul, MN 55108-0037
or
Tom Montag. PO Box 8, Fairwater, WI 53931


Revised: July 29, 2003