The author writes, “Since Natural Affinities is my first book of poems, it is likely to be largely biographical. Many of the poems in the first section titled “Encounters” are from my later years in the state of Washington. The first section of poems, “Affinities” are about post-retirement from education into the poetry writing.”
Section One includes his North Dakota memories: Near White Shield, Learning in North Dakota, A Fading Ritual, My Sister Veronica, Hitchhiking, Burial Ground, Departure, Immigrant, Departure in 1893, The Holy Ground and Times Past.
A stanza within the Immigrant poems reads:
Uprooted twice, he left three brothers
and one sister behind in South Russia.
One brother was shot in the face
By Bolsheviks trying to export tribute.
The remaining siblings died
of hunger, heartbreak, and violence
during Stalin’s rule and World War II.
A comment about the book:
“Like a well-traveled rucksack, this collection speaks of journeys, the poet an immigrant setting out from the home country of his imagination. Each poem serves as a vehicle and destination, and the scattered outposts – Iceland, the Dakotas, the Quinault River, Andalusia – lay their claims to portions of the poet’s character, memory, heritage. As well, we find our own homes in the reading.”
--- John Willson, Pushcart Prize winner and author of The Son We Had
About the author:
David Hecker early a Ph.D. in American history and American literature, subjects he taught to college students. He has published, Full Circle: A Journey in Search of Roots, a memoir in 2012, and Strangers Before the Bench, a historical novel in 2014.
