Bill Newby’s Passing Through delights, surprises, teaches, and sings poems with knowledge and wisdom. Most impressive is the collection’s combination of a multitude of subjects—from baseball to Cambodia, from “how to hold a pencil” to George Floyd-- mixed with a command of craft in image and music, metaphor and pacing. No matter the subject, most impressive about the poems, as in all satisfying poetry, is Newby’s skills at merging detail with metaphor and music. Passing Through is an ambitious museum you’ll want not only to pass through, but “pause"… and linger over this deeply satisfying—and humane—gallery of poems.
Philip Terman - Author of This Crazy Devotion
Former Director, Chautauqua Writers Festival
Bill Newby’s second collection, Passing Through, offers readers much-needed moments of pause and pockets of time to slow down and relish in the crafted language and resonant imagery of his poems. Wry and wise, his companionable voice invites us to enter these spacious rooms, to sidle up alongside him, to live and observe our lives more fully.
David Hassler – Author of Red Kimono, Yellow Barn
Director, Wick Poetry Center, Kent State University
“Pick it up with gratitude.” This sage instruction from Bill Newby’s poem “How to Hold a Pencil” is equally applicable to his welcome second collection Passing Through. In poems of observation and lamentation, Newby shares a wry sense of humor, companionable wit, and deep sense of empathy. From globetrotting adventures abroad to a masked and gloved expedition to the grocery store amid our global pandemic, Newby invites us to ride shotgun through his passages to destinations near and far, and into his memories of experiences never to be had again. These are trips well worth taking.
Jonathan Haupt – Director, Pat Conroy Literary Center
Philip Terman - Author of This Crazy Devotion
Former Director, Chautauqua Writers Festival
Bill Newby’s second collection, Passing Through, offers readers much-needed moments of pause and pockets of time to slow down and relish in the crafted language and resonant imagery of his poems. Wry and wise, his companionable voice invites us to enter these spacious rooms, to sidle up alongside him, to live and observe our lives more fully.
David Hassler – Author of Red Kimono, Yellow Barn
Director, Wick Poetry Center, Kent State University
“Pick it up with gratitude.” This sage instruction from Bill Newby’s poem “How to Hold a Pencil” is equally applicable to his welcome second collection Passing Through. In poems of observation and lamentation, Newby shares a wry sense of humor, companionable wit, and deep sense of empathy. From globetrotting adventures abroad to a masked and gloved expedition to the grocery store amid our global pandemic, Newby invites us to ride shotgun through his passages to destinations near and far, and into his memories of experiences never to be had again. These are trips well worth taking.
Jonathan Haupt – Director, Pat Conroy Literary Center