Jim McLeod has spent his career teaching at colleges and universities in Idaho and Washington. His poems have appeared in publications including Washington State University Press’s Deep Down Things: An Anthology of Inland Northwest Poetry. His creative life has been enriched by friendships with a number of fellow poets, among them the Pacific Northwest’s Richard Hugo and Scotland’s Somhairle MacGill-Eain. Like many others, he has been deeply influenced by Theodore Roethke, the subject of several of his scholarly publications. But Jim is no ivory tower academic. These poems ranging from the lyrical to the farcical reflect his wildly eclectic enthusiasms and experiences. The son of an orphan, he has spent his life reclaiming his family’s lost heritage in Scotland. He relishes local folklore and has written a book on lake monster legends. He and his wife and colleague Judith Sylte, editor of this collection, have led years of study tours to Scotland, Greece and Turkey and happily traipse around remoter corners of the globe. Friends and family know him as an all-round infomaniac whose profligate curiosity fills dozens of notebooks with facts and ideas on everything under the sun. McLeod is candid about his personal struggle with manic depression and alcohol, which colors a number of the poems. They reveal him as a shapeshifter, a Houdini of moods. He wrestles with hard choices and personal losses, wryly or angrily reacts to events in the news, and laughs at life’s comic absurdities. He is a father and a lover. Tender in one poem, playful the next, he is also the irrepressible cornball whose young granddaughters fondly dubbed him “The Jokester.”

Making the Arrows: Collected Poems 1970-2015

Literature & Fiction

McLeod, James R.

Poetry

Wordcraft

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Books by McLeod, James R.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by McLeod, James R.. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Making the Arrows: Collected Poems 1970-2015