A walking tour of memory and anecdote, rendering small moments large and seizing on universal concerns to make points in miniature.--Pasatiempo

Jon Kelly Yenser is always walking--through the art gallery, through the countryside, through the seasons, through the ruins of Sparta and of Wichita -- and taking everything in as he goes. His eye is ravenous, his language unsentimental and breathtakingly precise. He's the best imaginable company.--Eric McHenry, author of Odd Evening

Jon Kelly Yenser is always walking--through the art gallery, through the countryside, through the seasons, through the ruins of Sparta and of Wichita -- and taking everything in as he goes. His eye is ravenous, his language unsentimental and breathtakingly precise. He's the best imaginable company.--Eric McHenry, author of Odd Evening

Kelly Yenser's Walking Uphill at Noon is a moving, unpretentious, finely crafted collection of poems about life's changes in language that luminously and humorously radiates the words people live by. A playful motto for the volume might be a few double-edged lines from 'Palm Reading: Introduction': 'Whatever plots you concoct / don't connect the scars // I made all by myself. I remain / committed to the daily give-and-take. // As for the fancier signs--your bracelets and tassels-- // I swapped my gee-gaws / and bangles a long time ago.' A coyote cantering sideways seeking garbage, an osprey sitting cockeyed, local memories of home life and of travels abroad, exercising around the campus wearing earbuds: Walking Uphill at Noon is, at every turn, a richly engaging ascent for readers of all ages.--Jonathan Post, author of A Thickness of Particulars: The Poetry of Anthony Hecht