Overview

"Here is a poet with spirit large enough, and a history deep enough to do justice to the rich and sprawling continent of Africa. His is no heart of darkness, it is rather, a heart filled with light and love for the creatures, and the people, and the beauty of this land. ELEPHANT CAKE WALK is a jewel, with exquisite photographs from the Amboseli Game Reserve by Cynthia Moss and others to highlight and polish every facet of Oerke's checkerboard vision. As William H. Banks, Jr. tells us from Harlem, "" Andrew Oerke's superb collection of poetry stands tall and strides majestically through to the very heart of Africa, while guiding the reader on an unforgettable literary journey."" Never before in the many books and published poems has Andrew's environmental ethic, his insight, his intense attachment to nature, his comprehension of the ancient aspects of the earth and her living animals and plants been explicit. His multiple other poetry books and single poems seen at Andrewoerkepoetry.org hint at his strong attachment to a healthy earth. Elephant Cake Walk was oneof the final manuscripts Andrew pored over, and worked on during his last weeks, with grandfatherly desire that his grandchildrenCashen and Odin would love the animals he wrote about."

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Reviews

PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS BOOKS BY ANDREW OERKE San Miguel de Allende (2005) Andrew Oerke's poetry is original, vivid and eloquent. I reread his work with great pleasure and enlightenment. --Harold Bloom Andrew Oerke writes with extraordinary depth of feeling and mastery of form. His poems are an American treasure. --Jewel Spears Brooker Andrew Oerke constantly surprises with unexpected images and turns of phrase. He moves comfortably between the colloquial and the poetic. --Herbert Lindenberger, Avalon Professor of Humanities, Stanford University. African Stiltdancer (2006) Andrew Oerke's work is a window on the world, a world seen through the compassionate eyes of a fellow pilgrim. In the exquisite particulars of Africa, he sings the human condition, 'in the heart's duress, on the heart's behalf.' He is a marvel, moving from one stunning image to the next with the ease of a chameleon moving from fire to water. --Richard Harteis and William Meredith Never Seek to Tell Thy Love (2010) Andrew Oerke has wandered over the entire globe. His eye is shrewd, his mind capacious, and his generosity toward humankind is endless. His poems, whether set in Africa, Mexico, or in the United States, invariably offer fresh perspectives upon the reality he has encountered. I particularly am moved by his Mexican sequence, where an elegiac intensity permeates his work. Though his subjectivity is admirably realized, he refreshes the reader with an achieved singularity. His is a singularity that cares both for itself and for others, unlike certain other poets who attain their individualities by being indifferent both to the self and to others. Oerke's voice has matured into one that is very much his own. He has absorbed and transformed the influence of his former teacher, the admirable American poet Mark Strand. When I consider that Oerke is very much a person who lives out in the world, actively restoring the ecological balance of the oceans, and aiding other men and women to live better lives, I am profoundly moved that he should also have his sustained ability to enter, again and again, the universe of reverie and of quiet contemplation. --Harold Bloom, Stirling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University. Comments on the occasion of the bestowal of the Award for Literature to Andrew Oerke by the United Nations Society of Writers and Artists at the UN. The Wall (2015) Andrew Oerke is fearless. Who else could possibly write 19 poems (of 43) featuring walls--each more imaginative than the last. Some poems are exaltations, some moral occasions, others witty and playful; and, in all, the poetic sense comes through Oerke's self honesty. He's skilled in story compression and solves interesting linguistic problems in the process. Most of all, this is relevant work that will surely strike a major note with readers. --Grace Cavalieri, Producer/Host, The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress

PRAISE FOR PREVIOUS BOOKS BY ANDREW OERKE San Miguel de Allende (2005) Andrew Oerke's poetry is original, vivid and eloquent. I reread his work with great pleasure and enlightenment. --Harold Bloom Andrew Oerke writes with extraordinary depth of feeling and mastery of form. His poems are an American treasure. --Jewel Spears Brooker Andrew Oerke constantly surprises with unexpected images and turns of phrase. He moves comfortably between the colloquial and the poetic. --Herbert Lindenberger, Avalon Professor of Humanities, Stanford University. African Stiltdancer (2006) Andrew Oerke's work is a window on the world, a world seen through the compassionate eyes of a fellow pilgrim. In the exquisite particulars of Africa, he sings the human condition, 'in the heart's duress, on the heart's behalf.' He is a marvel, moving from one stunning image to the next with the ease of a chameleon moving from fire to water. --Richard Harteis and William Meredith Never Seek to Tell Thy Love (2010) Andrew Oerke has wandered over the entire globe. His eye is shrewd, his mind capacious, and his generosity toward humankind is endless. His poems, whether set in Africa, Mexico, or in the United States, invariably offer fresh perspectives upon the reality he has encountered. I particularly am moved by his Mexican sequence, where an elegiac intensity permeates his work. Though his subjectivity is admirably realized, he refreshes the reader with an achieved singularity. His is a singularity that cares both for itself and for others, unlike certain other poets who attain their individualities by being indifferent both to the self and to others. Oerke's voice has matured into one that is very much his own. He has absorbed and transformed the influence of his former teacher, the admirable American poet Mark Strand. When I consider that Oerke is very much a person who lives out in the world, actively restoring the ecological balance of the oceans, and aiding other men and women to live better lives, I am profoundly moved that he should also have his sustained ability to enter, again and again, the universe of reverie and of quiet contemplation. --Harold Bloom, Stirling Professor of the Humanities at Yale University. Comments on the occasion of the bestowal of the Award for Literature to Andrew Oerke by the United Nations Society of Writers and Artists at the UN. The Wall (2015) Andrew Oerke is fearless. Who else could possibly write 19 poems (of 43) featuring walls--each more imaginative than the last. Some poems are exaltations, some moral occasions, others witty and playful; and, in all, the poetic sense comes through Oerke's self honesty. He's skilled in story compression and solves interesting linguistic problems in the process. Most of all, this is relevant work that will surely strike a major note with readers. --Grace Cavalieri, Producer/Host, The Poet and the Poem from the Library of Congress

Author Information

"Andrew Oerke traveled the globe as a pioneer in the Peace Corps, a founder of microloan nonprofits, a restorer of endangered ocean waters, and as a poet. The son and grandson of Lutheran ministers who established churches across Minnesota and Wisconsin, Oerke eschewed the family business but maintained a pastoral sense of empathy, particularly through his writing. Oerke, whose poetry appeared in publications such as the New Yorker, died recently of a heart ailment exacerbated by a long struggle with the effects of malaria contracted years earlier in Africa. He was 80. U.S. Poet Laureate and Pulitzer Prize-winner William Meredith once wrote of him: ""Andrew Oerke's work is a window on the world, a world seen through the compassionate eyes of a fellow pilgrim."" In 2005, Oerke was given the United Nations Award for Literature by the U.N. Society for Writers and Artists for his books ""African Stiltdancer"" and ""San Miguel de Allende."" Born in La Crosse, Wis., Oerke graduated from high school in Emmons, Minn., began his college studies at St. Olaf in Northfield in 1948, and won a Fulbright scholarship to Freie Universitat of Berlin, and scholarships to University of Salamanca, Spain, the University of Mexico and Baylor University in Texas. Oerke taught English literature at Bemidji State University after working on his Ph.D. at Iowa State University."

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