High Water Mark: Prose Poems [Paperback]

Everyday mindreading, a house full of Buddhas, and the papaya scent of the soul. An interview with Custer at a place of his choosing, probably a steakhouse. The ability of dogs to smell the uncool.

Hitler's barber imagines what might have been if only he'd leaned his weight into the razor. An oblivious Coronado narrowly avoids an ambush on the American plains. Freud lecherously lifts the skirt of a Mexican housekeeper who has far too much work to be bothered by a pillar of modern thought. Or just some dirty old man.

In lesser hands such disparate elements might fly wildly out of control. But in David Shumate's understated, brilliant prose poems, they come together in miraculously vivid riffs.

The narrator of the title poem rhapsodizes, I wouldn't mind seeing another good flood before I die. It's been dry for decades. Next time I think I'll just let go and drift downstream and see where I end up. Shumate's deft and refreshing collection takes us to amazing places with its plainspoken meditations.

Winner of the Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize. Winner, 2004 Best Books of Indiana (poetry category)

These fresh and unpredictable prose poems annouce the arrival of an exciting new voice. Every page is filled with unexpected delights.

“This is the best, most spectacular book of prose poetry to be published in years.  David Shumate is an original writer because he does not play tricks with language or worry about what kind of stance he will take.  The poems are woven from a natural voice that uses daily human knowledge and experience to paint timeless portraits that reverberate with imagination and a trust in simple language.  The result is a book that emerges from the growing self-consciousness of the prose poem to show us how straight-ahead vision carries the most weight.  Awarded the 2003 Agnes Lynch Starrett Poetry Prize, this writer is headed for great things.”
--Blooms