Bibliography
Books
Time Billionaire (November 2024 via Bainbridge Island Press): In KG Newman's fifth collection of poems, he is simultaneously in reverence of, and at war with, the clock. The book examines how time is our most important asset, and through the lenses of self-identity, love, fatherhood and the finite nature of being, how the memories we develop ultimately are our most precious commodity. The collection is the place to save the prior minute's version of oneself and everything that's held dear: Pennies as memories scattered in a mirage off in the distance, and if you squint long and hard enough, they take the shape of a sequoia.
The Smell of Campfire (November 2022 via Hidden Peak Press): In KG Newman's fourth collection of poems, he explores the intersection of fatherhood and sonhood in a quest to understand them both. Balancing hope and uncertainty, and time and memory, Newman crafts a submission for past flaws with a fearless confidence in the present. With the sublimity of fatherhood hanging around every poem like the smell of burnt wood, he takes the reader face-to-face with the pricelessness of being a parent, with moments of crisis, loss and crushing impermanence in contrast with the eternal resonance of patriarchal love.
Husband Father Failure (December 2019 via The Nasiona): In his third collection of poems, KG Newman approaches love as metered sacrifice. In the tinted mirror of self-reflection, marriage is gauged on leverage and endurance while fatherhood is an equalizer, the bond that humbles and keeps him hanging on. From the kitchen to the front yard, from the interstates to worn sandlots across suburbia — from a gift of life to a plea of guilt — he reminds the reader of the fragility of emotion, the irreversible risk of love, and of the perils and rewards of investing in the modern American family.
Selfish Never Get Their Own (October 2016): In his second collection of poems, KG Newman explores the pitfalls of a self-centered existence. In the dissection of the unending chase for personal highs as well as the consequences of such a pursuit, he takes the reader to places where love and hate converge, where the desire for individuality is blurred by the speaker’s wants and needs for others. From insatiable to unsure, from passionate to poisoned, he emphasizes the truths of a narcissistic life highlighted by the often-vain — and sometimes successful — hunt for happiness.
While Dreaming of Diamonds In Wintertime (March 2013): In his debut collection, KG Newman explores an upbringing dominated by baseball. He takes us beyond the field, beyond the box score to places where unmet expectations, fractured relations, remorse, addiction and love all converge into a metaphysical and transient identity for both writer and reader. From mountain to desert, from vindictiveness to a humbled repentance, he underscores the contradictions of our lives and, in a way only a ballplayer hardened by failure can, illuminates the resilient yet flawed nature of the human spirit.
