Far Out

Far Out: Poems of the '60s includes poems by over 80 poets who remember that tumultuous decade from a wide range of vantage points. This collection brings to life the experiences of people who vividly remember the effects of the assassinations of Medgar Evars, JFK, Malcolm X, and Martin Luther King, who lived through the period of the Vietnam War and the protests against it, and who experienced the rise of Second-Wave Feminism, the Civil Rights Act and the emergence of the Black Power Movement, as well as the Apollo 11 moon landing.

"For readers like me, born too late to experience the 1960s in person, Far Out is something of an eye-opener. It was a decade shaped not only by hippies and activists, but by open-minded, politically active, inventive poets whose counter-cultural ideas prefigured and often supported what became predominant themes later in the century, like multicultural literature, ethnic identity, equity in labor, liberation from gender and sexual stereotypes, political transparency. Far Out includes work by some of the most distinguished poets of the time, as well as poems reflecting on how this compelling era shaped lives ­— transforming poems of deeply personal histories from folks who were changed by the experience of living through that vibrant decade." —Richard Blanco, 2012 Presidential Innaugural Poet

"Far Out: Poems of the ’60s evokes the decade in eight thematic sections with 145 texts by 80 authors writing about these events in more than 300 pages, plus 50 pages on contributors, including their excellent takes on the 1960s. There are Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winners, and winners of countless other accolades . . . . Far Out is a collection about our 'Age of Enlightenment' . . . . Those old enough to recall the 1960s will appreciate the turning point of that shining decade." —Robert Bonazzi, San Antonio Express-News

"The poetry contained in Far Out is not limited strictly to the sights and sounds of the American '60s, though those abound. It's about the emotions of the era, the dreams of the people, the places they traveled to, the books they read and the songs they sang. Kennedy, motorcycles and beads mingle with baby buggies, apple trees and Constantinople. The country wife in a quiet pastoral scene is as much a part of the era as the braless artist in her smoky room; the moon and the campus are one setting." —Mary Newport, Norman Transcript

Wendy Barker’s sixth collection of poetry, One Blackbird at a Time (BkMk Press, 2015), received the John Ciardi Prize for Poetry. Her fourth chapbook is From the Moon, Earth Is Blue. David M. Parsons, 2011 Texas Poet Laureate, grew up in Austin. Parsons was a recipient of a N.E.H. Dante Fellowship to SUNY, the French-American Legation Poetry Prize, and the Baskerville Publisher’s Prize. He was inducted into The Texas Institute of Letters in 2009.