Living Adverbially

Review

Mike Wahl’s ‘adverbial’ poems are both playful and philosophical. Taking a light-hearted approach and not taking himself or his subjects too seriously, he nonetheless manages to address love, hurt, empathy, aging, and the many adventures of living, from the domestic to the far-flung, reveling in flights of abstraction while remaining grounded in an earnest desire to investigate life’s complexities. Consumed one at a time or all in one sitting, these poems will provide any reader with food for thought.
–Jennifer Horne, current Poet Laureate of Alabama, and most recently author of Borrowed Light a book of poems published by Mule on a Ferris Wheel Press.

Mike Wahl’s Living Adverbially poems, with their adverb-inclusive titles, trace an unexpected path, taking the reader through a unique and specific journey into a surprising and stimulating reading experience. Exploring the premise that adverbs are not to be feared, reviled, or discarded, but are useful, descriptive, and eye-opening, this collection surprises and delights with complexity, humor, and insight.
–Ramey Channell, artist, poet, and author of The Moonlight Ridge Series.

Mike achieved his poetic quest to give a new meaning to “the adverb” in his poems. His propensity to use adverbial phrases to provide a greater visionary perception of either: degree, intensity, condition or concession is impressive. Through his accentuation, Mike masterfully uses the adverb to intensify meaning, and gratify one’s imagination. My favorite? Living Affectedly. Well done Mike.
–Charles E. Cabler, Retired Banking Vice President, author of three books on career development and achieving personal success in the workforce, one book on our humanitarian responsibility, and one historical biography book.

“Steep are the hillsides of life,” according to Michael Wahl, and as we move through this “rock-strewn and convoluted” existence, we must be mindful–conscious of ourselves and our surroundings. In Living Adverbially, Wahl exposes the seldom-examined parts of our world–from gravity to bedtime stories–and asks readers to consider them carefully. He discards “normal accepted approaches” in favor of his own style–short, concise poems that nonetheless surprise with their keen observations and witty turns of phrase. Living Adverbially means navigating the “complexities of life” with thoughtful purpose, and Wahl’s poems provide a framework from which to begin.
–Jessica Temple, Alabama State Poetry Society’s 2019 Poet of the Year, author of Seamless and Other Legends, available from Finishing Line Press (2013), and a full-length collection, Daughters of Bone, forthcoming from Madville Press in 2021.

About the Author

Living on and operating a farm in northern Alabama provides Mike Wahl with a great setting for creating great poetry. With a background in engineering and mathematics, these seemingly disparate vocations only add to the intrigue that becomes part of Mike’s poetry. Interests in politics and Constitutional rights add even more ingredients to his poetry kettle. He readily admits that the pot sometimes boils over when including too many concepts and phrases from interfaces with family, garden, and religion.