Michael Shoemaker is a poet, writer, and photographer. His photography has appeared in Front Porch Review, Writers on the Range, L’Esprit Literary Review, Littoral Magazine, Yahoo.com. and elsewhere. He lives in Utah near the Great Salt Lake with his wife and son. His online photography portfolio can be viewed at https://michaelshoemaker.crevado.com/ He is looking forward to one of his photographs being published in the Poetry Pacific Anthology in 2024.
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Michael Shoemaker: Two Poems and Photographs
HIGH UINTA MOUNTAINS
This morning,
you and I hopped
from rock to rock
and from lake to lake
just like we did as kids
from Lake Dean and Jean
and Dale and Dane
along the Highland Trail,
only getting lost one more
time than we did as boys
catching many more fish,
or so we tell ourselves.
Tired, saturated in thin air and sunlight,
we once again play like listless lizards
laying side by side on the warmest side of a slab of granite
crowned with those afternoon boiling billowing white clouds,
know somehow without speaking
passing years are less than hours
Our exhale links to one-single-moment
watching a winding butterfly reach and land
on one of the tallest points in the pine treetops.
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ACROSS THE PACIFIC
You are so far away.
I forget when you
gaze east and I west there’s
merely the blue- clouds- mist-
horizon- waves- seaweed-
and sand between our toes
until we fall into each
other’s arms.
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Rocky Mountain Reflections by Michael Shoemaker. $25/£20. Poets Choice. ISBN: 978-811935135. Reviewed by Michael Parker
Michael Shoemaker is a gifted, rising voice from the Mountain West. His first collection, Rocky Mountain Reflections is a thoughtful, and oftentimes powerful debut. An ecosystem of engaging poetry, prose, short stories, and photography. It’s a collection that feeds the soul, and nourishes your belief in the goodness of the human condition. Shoemaker’s vision of the world in which he lives inspires me. It is an absolute joy to read and remember.
In more depth, Shoemaker evokes in his poetry and prose the spirit of his mom, dad, family, ancient apostles, and even God to weave a beautiful tapestry of the humanity of humankind. Short stories about his past lives, experiences living in the Rocky Mountains, and highlights of his spiritual beliefs, especially how God works inside the framework of his life are key moments not easily forgotten.
The collection as a whole is a meditation of one’s man hope, Shoemaker’s hope for humanity is boundless. It shows a master at work, crafting memorable and life-affirming and inspiring poems, prose, and photography and is, moreover, full of humanity toward the people in and out of the circles of his life. I comprehend some of the scenes in the collection that correlate to this—playing dominos with a delightful relative, considering the simple glory of man, considering what Shoemaker would do to eat his wife’s crepes, or the joy of receiving a gift. Truly, this incandescent collection is a cascade of truths and insights from a life lived and experienced.
At times, it is a prayer, which “help[s] us to see the grace of God in our lives.” His faith in things, especially of God, is effusive and ever-present. As he paints vivid images as succinct and clear as his own spectacular photography, we are right there with him, witnessing the beauty of “boiling billowing white clouds” or a butterfly reach and land high on the pine treetops in the High Uinta Mountains; when he sees the beauty of a spiderweb high in the forests; when he turns the dirt in his backyard in order to plant a spring garden; when he describes the glorious and delightful taste of a peach; when he paints the childhood memory of buying ten hamburgers for a dollar in Anaheim, California; or even when he describes the experience of hiking to the headwaters of a river only to discover that goodness springs from God. Rocky Mountain Reflections is a highly original and at times breathtaking debut collection.
Michael Parker, is the poet of the award-winning collection Divining the Spirits in the House of the Hush and Hush and President-Elect of the Utah State Poetry Society.
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The High Window 