Essentials
by David Whyte
32 poems, essays and art; 120 pages
Format: Pocket-size
Price: $15.00
ISBN: 978-932-887-50-1
Publisher: Many Rivers Press
To Order: www.davidwhyte.com


ABOUT THE BOOK:


In his latest collection, philosopher and poet David Whyte, addresses head-on what
makes the process of writing worthwhile. Achieving what is rare among writers, the poet
successfully describes a crossroads where the solitary man or woman of letters meets the
intimacy that must at some point involve reaching out emotionally and physically to the
real people who populate our lives. Therein resides a rich vein of beauty and insight
rewarding not only the writer but resulting in a sort of hidden miracle where the words so
lovingly and painstakingly labored over "seem to belong to everyone."


ADVANCE PRAISE:


David Whyte has spent his life exploring the frontiers and borderlands of
disparate worlds. As a poet-philosopher with a degree in Marine Zoology, where others
see dichotomy and separation, Whyte sees a conversation that ennobles the whole.
Whyte is particularly interested in the way the invisible elements of human life converse
with our visible endeavors. The poems and essays brought together in Essentials read as
eloquent dispatches in the manner of an explorer, shining light in unexpected
places. Spanning 35 years and including personal reflections as well as one new poem
and one new essay, this collection, edited by Gayle Karen Young Whyte, forms a
testament to Whyte's most closely-held understanding—that human life cannot be
apportioned out as one thing or another; rather, it is best lived as the way between, made
beautiful by darkness as well as light, at its essence both deeply solitary and profoundly
communal.
—Many Rivers Press Editorial Staff


ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


Internationally acclaimed poet David Whyte makes his home in the Pacific Northwest,
where rain and changeable skies remind him of the other, more distant homes from which
he comes: Yorkshire, Wales and Ireland. He travels and lectures throughout the world,
bringing his own and others' poetry to large audiences.

He holds a degree in Marine Zoology, and is the recipient of honorary degrees from
Neumann College and Royal Roads University. He is the author of ten books of poetry
and four books of prose, as well as a collection of audio recordings.


FROM THE BOOK:


Sometimes
by David Whyte

Sometimes
if you move carefully
through the forest,

breathing
like the ones
in the old stories,

who could cross
a shimmering bed of leaves
without a sound,

you come
to a place
whose only task

is to trouble you
with tiny
but frightening requests,

conceived out of nowhere.
but in this place
beginning to lead everywhere.

Requests to stop what
you are doing right now,
and

to stop what you
are becoming
while you do it,

questions
that can make
or unmake
a life,

questions
that have patiently
waited for you,

questions
that have no right
to go away.

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