Book Review: Walking Each Other Home

An impressive author and academic in his own right, poet Michael Hogan also has the distinction of counting many prominent poets as his acquaintances, friends, and compatriots—past and present. These figures populate the pages of Walking Each Other Home as harbingers of singular significance to the author’s recollections. Concordantly, this collection of minor memories (musically speaking) breathes with the rhythm and awareness of the poet. Poetry connects our raw reality with the elusive grandeur of what lies beyond. The poet stands between these worlds, attuned to their harmony as one. Listening, we hear the songs of those who listened harder. Michael Hogan listened well, and fortunately, he took notes.

Through attentive awareness and faithful recording, Dr. Hogan has produced this poetic and insightful memoir filled with wonderfully significant encounters and life experiences. These are shared succinctly and with disarming humility by one favored to meet some magnificent influences along the way—some quite celebrated, others less so, but all offering valuable nuggets of advice and personal observations relevant to the creative life.

The reader is often reminded of the synchronicities inherent to a well-attended life, even though they may not be recognized and fully appreciated until later. Dr. Hogan counterpoints these remarkable encounters with grounded reminders of “what was going on” in his own life at the time. This provides a great deal of sobering but highly impactful meaning to these remarkable relationships, benefiting from the contrast between raw reality and the higher understanding created by a poetic mind.