Sharon Waller Knutson’s Trials & Tribulations of Sports Bob, spanning the highs and lows of award winning journalist Bob Brown’s life into verse that is both powerful and unforgettable, is equal parts poetry, biography and storytelling. I found myself riveted and rooting for Brown, invested like in the poem, Jan. 12, 1975 Super Bowl IX - By the time / the Steelers trounce the Vikings / his feet feel like an army of fire ants / are nibbling on his toes and when / he tries to put his loafers back on / the next morning his feet howl like a coyote. Or like in the poem, Aug. 5, 1962, Wisconsin, the day Brown is grilling hamburgers in his backyard, and a policeman hands him a telegram that changes his life forever: his father - dead. How his uncle drove Bob and his brother to the death scene and introduced him: Boys meet the man/who killed your father. And who can forget his mother shouting in the same poem: You’re worthless / and will never amount / to anything. Carolynn Kingyens, Before the Big Bang Makes a Sound

In Trials & Tribulations of Sports Bob, Sharon Waller Knutson brings her friend Bob’s story to life. Moreover, his life is a very full and rich one, and Sharon’s appealing poems show how he experiences each stage of this life. The poems can also be complex. Photo of Baby Bob reveals his harsh childhood in rural Wisconsin, yet it also foreshadows Bob’s successful career with her image of him [gazing] into the lens of the photographer’s camera. Still others show his loving marriage to Carole who, after their modest wedding and their departure for their new life in Montana, demonstrates that she is along for the ride/ [as] she snuggles up to him/ and turns up the radio. My favorite poem is: Sunrise Over Whiskey Jack Lodge, a subtle, reflective poem set in the Canadian wilderness. I’m sure that you will have your own favorites among the poems in this book, so I encourage you to find them!

Marianne Szlyk, Poetry En Plein Air