Bøger af Stephen Benz

The poems in The Ghost Owl Says Go Now focus on place, specifically the vast American landscape from California to Key West and points in between. Guided by the wandering spirit of Bash¿, some of the travel poems in this collection are wistful; others reflect on harsh realities experienced under the spell of wanderlust. Along the way, there are encounters with a variety of people-neighbors, relatives, strangers-that might be described as instances of synchronicity: encounters that seemingly offer significance beyond the random. Still other poems take their cues from culturalmanifestations of Americana: music, artwork, literature, film. In this collection of poems, Stephen Benz continues his probing explorations into the topographies of Americana.

These essays travel near andfar to explore landscapes of personal and cultural significance and thecommunities that inhabit them. At a time when wereexamine how policies of yesteryear shape equities in the present, award-winning writer Stephen Benz challenges readers to delve beyondwhitewashed versions of history and reassess our treatment of native people andthe environment with fresh, critical eyes. From westward expansion and ManifestDestiny to the Cold War and the Global War on Terror, Reading the Signsprods myths and provides missing context around events touched by the Americanimpulse to grab land and harvest resources--both within and beyond our shores.These essays challenge us to search for missing layers of truth and decidewhich versions of history should prevail. With a wanderingspirit and an inquisitive mind, Benz ventures around town, across country, andoverseas in search of forgotten, overlooked, or misunderstood stories. Fromrock concerts and courthouses to farm towns, battlegrounds, historical sites, and quirky museums, these "itinerant essays" revel in discovering "new wondersevery mile." Along with Topographies (Etruscan Press) and two books oftravel essays--Guatemalan Journey (University of Texas Press) and GreenDreams: Travels in Central America (Lonely Planet)--Stephen Benz haspublished essays in Creative Nonfiction, River Teeth, TriQuarterly, NewEngland Review, and other journals. Three of his essays have been selectedfor Best American Travel Writing (2003, 2015, 2019). His poems haveappeared in journals such as Nimrod, Shenandoah, and Confrontationas well as in a full-length collection, Americana Motel, published byMain Street Rag Press. Benz now teaches professional writing at the Universityof New Mexico.

A wild ride on the madcap streets of Guatemala City. A twilight walk through old Havana with a Cuban mailman. A canoe trip along the Florida coast in search of a missing grave. An impromptu communion with one of the twentieth century's forgotten heroes. These are some of the adventures Stephen Benz describes in this witty, insightful, and evocative collection of travel essays.Benz, the author of Guatemalan Journey and Green Dreams, takes readers to remote and exotic locales, introducing unusual characters and recounting little known historical anecdotes. Along the way, he reflects on the meaning of the atom bomb, describes the hardships of daily life in the former Soviet Union, and tracks down the ghosts of the infamous Donner Party.Originally published in newspapers and magazines such as the Miami Herald and the Washington Post, these essays eloquently inform and entertain both the armchair traveler and the general interest reader.