DeWitt Clinton Finds the Right Words in ‘Hello There’

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Photo courtesy DeWitt Clinton

DeWitt Clinton

DeWitt Clinton

Good poetry focuses the readers’ attention on the wider reality outside and within, a mission more important than ever in our prosaic world of incessant distraction. As Milwaukee’s DeWitt Clinton writes in his new collection of poems, Hello There:

Perhaps we can invent something that will make us

Wake up, even though the forecast is for more snow

A UW-Whitewater professor emeritus, DeWitt is the author of several chapbooks and full-length books of poetry whose vivid word pictures have spanned the simple artfulness of a yoga pose through the sheer terror of a Vietnam War battle. The release party for Hello There will be held later this month in an unconventional venue, Downtown Wauwatosa’s Ruby Tap.

Many of the poems collected in Hello There were composed during the pandemic “I wouldn’t say despair fills the book, but any reader would probably pick up on that sense after reading a few poems,” Clinton says. Disappointment and loss are evident, as well as a heightened awareness of aging and death:  

We’re not into earth colors anymore

And we’ll be earth colors soon enough.

The tone is different than Clinton’s previous collection, By a Lake Near A Moon: Fishing with the Chinese Masters (2020), described in a Shepherd Express review as using “accessible language to inspire renewed life and energy into the local landscape of Milwaukee and Lake Michigan.” However, despite its precise register of contemporary anxiety, Hello There includes humor and hope. “I’m hoping the variety and surprise will keep the reader curious about what might appear on the next page,” he says.  

“I'm not sure about other poets, but I certainly sense many editors are searching for poets and other artists who have tried to respond and interpret what’s happening in our pandemic world,” Clinton continues. “My guess is that sooner or later artists will direct their attention to this global phenomenon and try to put words together to probe this incredibly disturbing crisis. I know I have changed considerably and I'm certain many others have as well.”

Why Ruby Tap? Clinton explains that he attended a reading at the Ruby Tap a few months ago by local poet Richard Hedderman and was impressed with the venue. “We’ve seen too many Zoom readings, so this will be a live event, and of course, we hope everyone attending will still be alive long after the Spring Equinox reading. I’ve invited guest poets to read from my two recent books, and I’ll be reading from the new collection.” 

DeWitt Clinton’s reception will run from 3-5 p.m., March 20 at The Ruby Tap, 1341 N. Wauwatosa Ave. His recent books will be available for purchase.