When I Was a King is dedicated to the author’s wife who died in the late summer of 2019 of an undiagnosed cancer. Many of the poems deal with her unexpected death and its aftermath during a period in American life when dishonesty and brutality seemed to prevail, thus threatening such values as compassion and love of beauty that make poetry possible
While loss is the primary tone throughout this book-the loss of his beloved as well as the loss of the industrial Midwest which the author grew up in and now no longer exists-this is also a book about hope. The poems take readers through the worst darkness that life can give a person, finding a bright light shining on the other side.
Whether touching on the vanished landscapes of his past, the brutal history of the Midwest’s settling, the recent rise of an American demagogue, a “torch of purple lilacs,” or the poet’s “last look” at his deceased beloved, the vision of John Krumberger’s When I Was a King is both piercing and large-souled. This is poetry in the service of living, responsive to whatever experience brings. The pages move through profound personal grief, “this wind/ that blows through me as if I am an emptiness,” yet remain stubbornly open to the solace and sustenance of memory, attention, kindness, love, awe, joy that “rises up surprising and immense.” Krumberger’s honesty and generosity turn the reader into fellow traveler and gatherer of meanings: “And so, write them/ in the book, the names, the mysteries,/ we owe them at least that.” The deep humanity of this book will break you open and remind you why poetry matters.
Jay Udall, author of Because a Fire in Our Heads
“Poetry begins with generosity,” insists John Krumberger, and in poems that have as their backdrop both current politics and the death of his wife-“what is this wind/ that blows through me as if I am an emptiness?”-the poet moves beyond anger and resignation toward simple pleasures, imagining how “grass feels/ receiving the touch of rain” or seeing his daughter approaching in a crowded city, “flowing there/ along that radiant river of faces.” Yes. When I Was a King is filled with such moments, striking its variations on our daily affirmations, its poems always burgeoning: “You remember a phrase, then a whole song from the old language.” Apricity. That obsolete word meaning the warmth of the sun in winter. That’s the word that comes to mind while reading this moving collection.
Michael Waters, author of Celestial Joyride
John Krumberger’s When I Was a King delivers a calm testimony to paying attention. There are jests and surprises and the markings of memory, loss, and beauty. These are deeply felt poems crafted with passion and commitment to “finding gold, dark stories.” He offers radiant and truthful portrayals of the small-town America where he grew up and reflections on the challenging America of current times. These are poems of family, place, and spirit. And the reader understands just how much he knows in “the way poetry begins with generosity.” A beautiful book of rememberings and beginnings.
Diane Jarvenpa, author of Shy Lands
John Krumberger
has published two previous full volumes of poetry and a prize-winning chapbook. He retired at the end of 2023 after a long career as a psychologist and psychotherapist. In addition to a PhD in psychology from the University of Minnesota, he received an MFA in Poetry from New England College.