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Vorhees – Memories Linked Like Oases

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Duane Vorhees’ latest collection of poems, Memories Like Linked Oases: Poetry, Self, Choices, Philosophy, Nature, Love, Politics, Religion, Romance, Time, Aging, and Death is now available worldwide.

The book contains 129 poems that range from personal observations about human behaviour via physics and art/culture to perspectives on cites and politics.

The book is divided into ten equal-length groupings of twelve poems each, plus a Fourwords and Afterwords section. An introduction titled On Reading a Poem for the First Time and an About the Author section (not written by the author, see bottom of this page) complete the interior.

Praise for the Book

Duane Vorhees uses moments from history and his story as a successful analogy for the state of humanity in general, with particular attention to the progression of feelings through time. Many of the poems in this collection feel pleasantly cryptic at first reading, but they often reveal themselves upon revisiting, moving from simplifications into specifics that justify the poet’s generalities. There is a great reverence for sound in these poems, too, which make good but sparse use of rhyme and assonance. Some of the poems are funny too. There is a strong theme of spiritual and political protest running down the stream of the collection, and it’s extremely refreshing to see the poet seamlessly transition from voice to voice.

—Dominic Francis, author God’s Pretty Game of Grotesque Puppets

Duane Vorhees’s poems tiptoe on classical notes in a sense that they crave for and aim at the bygone era when he actually experienced the emotions. These are classical in a sense that they are “recollected in tranquility.” He masters the moments and provides us a glimpse of the fineness and deficiency peculiar to the event. I often read them once as a whole and again one line at a time, only during your second journey you might walk in the shoes of the poet himself, meander in the meadows of echo and sighs, cheers and cries.

—Kushal Poddar, author Postmarked Quarantine

Icy and warm in almost the same breath. When you finish one you may have to brace yourself for the next plummet or sudden ascent. But this is as it should be when you read a poet who has been at work for as long as Duane. There are few subjects outside his range. Yes, you may have to take a breather here or there in this collection to get your proper bearings. But Duane’s poems also glide serendipitously through those liminal spaces between the Magical and Mythical and Ego/Rational dimensions of consciousness. Indeed, one wanders through this forest of wonders only to bump into the spirit of the Ancients here and that of Modernists over there. To open a book of Duane’s poems is to start up the gangway to an Ark shaped like a Castle. Or is that in fact an Interstellar Oasis Caravan? In any case, lucky readers will know they are in for a heck of a ride!

—Robert Perchan, author Fluid in DarknessFrozen in Light and Last Notes from a Split Peninsula: Poems and Prose Poems

[V]ery exciting poems. [The author has] been very consistent in thought-provoking poems and will in no small way contribute significantly to the world of knowledge and literature. [His] poetry seems to mark a new beginning of intellectual product of our everyday life. [T]he worth and joy of reading [this poet’s] work cannot be ignored.

—Rashid Pelpuo, Deputy Majority Leader, Parliament of Ghana

How do I buy the Book?

The book is available in the following countries. Simply click on any of the country names to order your own copy.

United States  |  United Kingdom  |  Germany  |  France  |  Spain  |  Italy  |  Netherlands  |  Poland  |  Sweden  |  Japan  |  Canada  |  Australia

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Hog Press (April 26, 2023)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback and Hardcover ‏ : ‎ 164 pages
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1941892664 (Paperback)
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.4 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 7 x 0.37 x 10 inches

About the Author

You’re such a sad, searching, deepthinking erudite, gifted brilliant, silty cynical guy! Your intriguing poetry sucks me in every time. 

—Arlene Corwin

Your works will be studied long after we’re all gone. 

—Rashid Pelpuo

Your work here is incredibly original…. Some of these poems touch me — and touch me deeply…. When they work for me, they work incredibly well. I envy your wordplay and originality…. I cannot say I understand all of your poems, such is your depth and erudition, but there’s an awful lot I like. I am a little jealous that you have such a playful muse, and for you it seems she gives and gives and gives; but tonight I will sip my frosty beer knowing that I can ski faster than you. 

—Peter Wodarz

I loved your poetry, spinetingling insights actually…. Love poetry that is emotive and makes me think. 

—Amrita Valan 

It is such a pleasure to read your poetry…. I love the subject, style, phrasing and imagery of each poem. 

—Strider Mark Jones

Far more than the typical café stanzas, each entry is ablaze with wisdom and beautifully brutal. This is the kind of raw and orphic poetry we’ve been missing since Byron, or Bukowski. I read and reread your poems, and I have to tell you that they’re the best pieces of verse I’ve read in a while. Very engrossing, and they left me inspired! Enough so that they have me writing poetry again. These poems you’ve crafted are like torch fire on the far side of the fog. I hope to find my way to where your pen stands waiting…. It was a restorative read, for as I read I would stop to grab my notebook and pen poems of my own…. It takes a remarkable poet to motivate one to rouse from a protracted period of grief. What a conflagration courses through these, your years of looking back…. Yours is indeed one of the most genuine, and experimental, voices I’ve encountered hitherto…. I see so much anecdote in your writing. You’ve lived these poems, haven’t you? 

—Dennis Williamson

I am constantly amazed at how much you know and how you weave skillful poems around it all. 

—Beth Weaver

Magical words. Your poetry is worth reading over and over. 

—Sugar Zedna

I always delight in your naughtiness, word play, multiple entendre, but also see travel and multiple interpretations of life’s issues along with a genuine love and appreciation and respect for the language. 

—Dave Norris

Unscrew the doors themselves from their jambs! Behold the universe! A drooling idiot! Feast on it with your jaws! Dance in your mask, we’re watching. I want to see you fire the gun again, at the sky, so I can laugh. In that sound you made in laughing; I don’t know what it was. What are you laughing at, Duane?….We’re going to ban you, I promise. We’ll put you in the cage! We’ll record your voice! Your gift will be to the king, and the sentence is, that you will have to keep giving it! 

—Robin Wyatt Dunn 

Book Sample

For a few sample pages, including the Copyright, Table of Contents, Fourwords, two pages from Section 1, and the About the Author pages, please click on any of the images below. You can also download a PDF (263Kb) that contains these 19 sample pages.