Investment in Idolatry

Investment in Idolatry

Keith Moul implies that most human activities conclude in several quite predictable results: success in light of the object; failure in light of the object; or in brutal competition, complete abandonment of the object in favor of new options C-Z. His chapbook of poems invest Keith in considerations of noble paths, but almost certain misdirection. Readers, therefore, may be alert to surprises, the compelling diversions of history, or language that in Keith's opinion will protect explorers of dark latitudes. In other words, watch out for idolatries that can arise innocently to capture you completely. "As a collector, I exult at lesser archives," Keith Moul tells us. Here the poet allows us a glance at his collections: treasured family portraits, pocket-worn and much folded; the maps and mementos of personal geography; the questions and assaults of politics, war, and all that we call "second nature." Moul's poems are inquiries, searching for the ends of sentences that seem to be implied in the syntax of culture. -J.I. Kleinberg, co-editor, Noisy Water: Poetry from Whatcom County, Washington (Other Mind Press 2015) There is the world and there is the considered life of imagination and introspection. Keith Moul mindfully blends the two together in his well-honed contemplative poetry, sprinkled with an apt dose of quirkiness. His images and subtleties will challenge the reader to live and consider more deeply, more critically. -Luther Allen, author of The View from Lummi Island, co-editor Noisy Water "Keith Moul's poetry is the real thing. Its tension, language and honesty will remind readers how powerful modern poetry can be." -Simon Perchik Keith Moul was born 3 months after VJ Day. His father, Ralph, served on aircraft carriers in the Pacific in World War II, and Keith developed a strong interest in U.S. history growing up at that particular time. He's always writing his poems, taking his pictures and studying reliable historians to understand his times. Keith was born in St. Louis and is a life-long Cardinal fan. Baseball fills capably the long, hot, humid evenings in St. Louis. Not fast enough for baseball, he turned to schooling in literature: the U. of Missouri, AB '67; Western Washington State U., MA '71; 1972 at the U. of Iowa where he studied Old English; and U. of South Carolina, PhD '74. He married Sylvia in 1967 and they remain very happily together. His daughter, Ianthe, was born in 1969 and has blossomed into a compelling artist in paints. But most of Keith's time since leaving school has been spent in the commercial insurance world, employed by various companies in underwriting, marketing and underwriting management. He was retired in 2001 due to company mergers, a destructive practice among financial businesses. But the administrative part of poetry has become significantly more possible with the advent of computers and the internet. This book was submitted, reviewed and accepted by Finishing Line Press as an electronic transaction; so was The Future as a Picnic Lunch, which FLP published in 2015. All this amounts to an interesting life of pleasant retirement.