Out of the Welter by Art Madson

• Paperback: 82 pages
• Publisher: Fireweed Press; 1st edition (July 1, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1878660233
• ISBN-13: 978-1878660237

In these poems Art Madson shows us the bold, rich welter of his life experiences in terms so honest, so fearless, that the years have caused no loss of color at all. I ‘30s-era “Cops and Robbers,” he is one of a pack of little boys who waits, thrilled and terrified, for the excitingly evil Jon Dillinger to veer toward his peaceful town. He can be wickedly funny: his “Silk Purse,” an ode to hogs, is a hilarious and spot-on examination of the piggy nature. Yet in “Sweet Sixteen” Madson remorselessly examines his callous teenage self, a trapper so greedy he hated a raccoon for chewing its leg off and “swindling me of its skin.”

He shows us, quietly, a stunning tragedy: the day on which his mother died from cancer, and (a few hours later) his father, distractedly driving onto train tracks, his intent never to be known. But many of Madson’s richest poems, the most intense and passionate, deal with his love for his wife “Clemmie.” “Elbows and Onions” takes place in the kitchen, a divine welter of root vegetables and stew and an embrace so blazing, between this long-wed couple, that we see they are indeed “incandescent/ for the other.”

Madson shows us that the past is not past; and that it will never be so.

-Margaret Benbow, author of Stalking Joy

About the Author

Raised on an Iowa farm, Arthur Madson described himself as 'a lapsed agrarian.' Yet his farming childhood lives on in his poems, and his love of gardening stayed with him over the decades. Born in June 1925, Arthur lived until April 2008. At his memorial service his family celebrated him as husband, father, grandfather, big brother, uncle, teacher, storyteller, poet and scholar. His fellow poets saw him as quick-witted, wry, and unmatched in his nuanced portrayal of fellow humans. Humor was a mainstay for him, and he used it artfully, both on the page and at the podium. Arthur enjoyed a long marriage to cellist Marianne McDaniel Madson, the beloved 'Clemmie' in his poems. Over the years, the partners, who had been college sweethearts, encouraged each other's creativity and raised five children together. Arthur served in the army during World War II and afterward earned his PhD at the University of Oklahoma. He began writing in his mid-fifties and joined the Wisconsin Fellowship of Poets after reading his poems at the Wisconsin State Capitol on Poetry Day. He served as vice president of WFOP and editor of its annual poets' calendar. He taught English for thirty-six years, most of them at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. A Shakespeare scholar who was also versed in the works of Melville and other literary greats, he delighted students and other audiences with his insightful lectures. He joined a biweekly manuscript group in Madison and began publishing soon afterward. His work appeared in many magazines and four books--Good Manure, Blue-Eyed Boy, Plastering the Cracks and Coming Up Sequined.


Available on Amazon