WHAT WE HAVE INSTEAD
After award-winning books on environment and scores of articles, this is Gus Speth’s first book of poetry, from 2019. In it there are stories about people and their journeys, scathing but sometimes humorous commentary on current events, several reflections on climate risks and environmental loss and where that leaves us, and many other poems—philosophical, funny, or something else.
Praise for Speth’s What We Have Instead
“Distinguished Favorite”
— Independent Press Award for Poetry
“…sometimes humorous, sometimes poignant… the author paints an expansive world. He has a gift for this, first drawing the details, and then reminding us of a bigger world.”
— The Randolph (VT) Herald
“Speth’s poetic style and structure vary, from spare, sometimes wry, free verse to rhyming quatrains. He brings an eye for telling detail and a unique outlook to well-known topics. (The poems) chronicle scenes from everyday life, milestones both triumphant and tragic, and musings on politics, history, aging and forgiveness.”
— The (VT-NH) Valley News