False Summit

Son, brother, father, friend, hiker, traveler, banker, lawyer, reader, and poet. John DesCamp has found company in poetry for most of his life, and he has given it back. False Summit is more than a collection of poems and essays, and it’s more than a metaphor–it is a journey the author invites you to share, knowing that you are already a fellow traveler. And he introduces you to fine companions and other sojourners finding their way, including Jim Halliday, whose photographic art helps chart the road.

In multiple forms–essay, lyric poem, haiku, and very short fiction–False Summit gives its readers the insights gained from the writer’s close and eloquent observation. One of its poems asserts there is ‘No way to know how the song turns out/ but to play it through to the last notes/ That’s always the question, isn’t it?/ Start singing or stand silent?’ This book is John DesCamp’s answer. He does, indeed, choose to sing.

–Paulann Petersen, Oregon Poet Laureate Emerita

In this world, where so many of us are simply doing the best we can on our journey, poetry serves as a compass. The best poetry touches the heart and the mind. John DesCamp is an outstanding poet. To read his work is to be reminded of the mystery and beauty of life.

–Tom Hallman Jr., author, and winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Feature writing