John Engels

jengelsJohn Engels (1931-2007) was born in South Bend, Indiana and spent much of his teaching career at St. Michaels College in Vermont. An acclaimed trout fisherman and an avid trombone and autoharp player, he was devoted to the written word and was rewarded with poems in Harper’s, The New Yorker and frequently in Shenandoah. He received a Guggenheim and won the National Poetry Series (for Cardinal’s in the Ice Age). His other books include Weather Fear: New and Selected Poems 1958-1982 (Georgia, 1983) and Recounting the Seasons, Poems 1958-2005 (University of Notre Dame, 2005).  "A Painting of an Angler" first appeared in Shenandoah 45/3.

A Painting of an Angler Fishing the Source

An angler slashed on in black is crouched in a chaos of daisies and mulleins, on a riverbank, from beyond the high edge of which blooms an apple orchard that demonstrates signs of human labor, a rake against a tree, … Continue reading →