The Poetry of Steve McDonald

Praise for Credo

“Credo is an intimate and beautiful collection drawn from one man’s life. But it goes far beyond that to show us the commonality of our lives, rooted in rich physicality, growing in failure and humility and the heart breaking open. Through vivid language and well-chosen images, these poems bring us closer together.”

—Ellen Bass, Like a Beggar

“These are the poems of idea and story, dense with the images of daily life, its tattoos and churches, its children and rain. They follow the pattern of a man’s recovery, his laughter and grief, his landscape and hope, his nostalgia and desire.”
—Joseph Millar, Kingdom

Praise for Golden Fish / Dark Pond

"Steve McDonald’s new collection, Golden Fish / Dark Pond, is a stunning and deeply moving sequence of meditations. Here is a poet who creates—even as he reflects upon—the metaphysics of passage that we each seek, perhaps most often while we move through despair toward some iridescence of faith." --David St. John, The Auroras

In these poems, Steve McDonald gives the reader a keen-eyed observation of dread and hope as they exist side-by-side. His skill at braiding faith—in its multiple variations—with the everyday experiences of life results in a “quick breath” that you’ll hold until you complete this mesmerizing collection. --Lynne Thompson, Start with a Small Guitar

"The beauty of McDonald’s imagery opens us to his and our own vulnerability and struggles . . . language that views the natural with reverence."

Judith Pacht, Summer Hunger

Praise for House of Mirrors

"Steve McDonald reveals the sacred that’s in everything around us. He finds God in a sowbug, in a blue-belly lizard whose eyes are deep as every unanswered question, and in his hands, even starting up a lawn mower is a kind of prayer, a recognition that the grass is long,/your time is short. In the title poem, when the boy steps out of the House of Mirrors, the faces of the people at the carnival waver and shimmer. This is what these poems do—they show us the shimmering world." —Ellen Bass, The Human Line

"In this book the startling and raw turn into a state of grace. These are elegant poems – moving and redemptive.” –Judith Pacht, Summer Hunger

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About Steve

Steve McDonald’s second full-length book, Credo, was a finalist in the 2016 Brick Road Poetry Press competition. It will be available for purchase in 2018. His chapbook Golden Fish / Dark Pond was the winner of the 2014 Comstock Review Chapbook contest. He has also published the full-length collection House of Mirrors (Tebot Bach, 2013), and the chapbook Where There Was No Pattern (Finishing Line Press, 2007).

Steve’s individual poems have won awards from Tiferet, Nimrod, Beyond Baroque, Passager, Sow’s Ear, and others, including Best New Poets 2010. His poetry has appeared in Boulevard, Nimrod, The Atlanta Review, RATTLE, The Crab Creek Review, The Paterson Literary Review, Spillway, and elsewhere.

Professor Emeritus of English and retired Dean of Languages and Literature at Palomar College in San Marcos, California, he lives with his wife, Marlyle, in Murrieta and can be contacted through his website at stevemcdonaldpoetry.com.

The Poetry of Steve McDonald

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"In this book the startling and raw turn into a state of grace. These are elegant poems – moving and redemptive.” –Judith Pacht, Summer Hunger

About Steve