Member-only story
Wordkeeper 2.0 — Life of the World to Come vs. Thirty Bob A Week
2021 Editor’s Note: This is the third time and place I have published this piece! As mentioned below, originally published in a blogspot blog called Deborama’s Books, which I had when I lived in the UK. It was linked to an Amazon Associate’s account and people could buy the books, but no one ever did. When I moved back to the Twin Cities USA, I started a new blogspot book blog called Always A New Leaf, and ported some of my better pieces from the old to the new, sans the bookselling links. I still have that old Amazon Associates account, with both a UK and US version. It’s so dormant it is beyond dead. And now Leonard Cohen is dead too.
2014 Editor’s Note: This blog was first published in January 2010 in Deborama’s Book Reviews and Store, my old book blog in the UK. I decided to re-do it a bit and publish it in real-time, rather than in its spot in the transferred posts. I just want to add that John Davidson is one of my favorite of all the dead poets. Most, not all, of my favorite living poets are actually songwriters, and a bleak lot they are, too: Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, Townes Van Zandt (oops, he’s dead!) and now joining them is John Darnielle.
I have been listening to the most recent Mountain Goats album, Life of the World to Come.
