Alms for Oblivion

Alms for Oblivion collects the best of William Heath's recent poems, ranging from autobiographical reminiscences to social commentary, travels abroad, observations of the natural world, meditations on the art of poetry, and a final section on aging and the fate of our nation. Here's what his fellow poets have said about his previous poetry books:



The Walking Man (Icarus Books, 1994): William Heath is in my opinion one of the most brilliantly accomplished and gifted young poets to appear in the United States in quite some time. I am especially moved by the delicacy and precision of the language, which indicate a distinguished intelligence, and by the purity and depth of feeling in all of his poems.

-James Wright



The Walking Man is the work of a poet who knows how to tell a story.

-Richard Wilbur



William Heath is a gifted and mature writer and his work merits a wide public audience.

-Philip Levine



Night Moves in Ohio (Finishing Line Press, 2021): These poems are savvy and lively, as exact as a high jumper's focus, quick and accurate as a tennis player's eye, wrist, ankle. Night Moves in Ohio is Heath's own remembrance of things past-an autobiography in rapt miniature of his unforgotten early life, mercilessly but compassionately lit by the laser-light of memory.

-Eamon Grennan



Steel Valley Elegy (Kelsay Books, 2022): Heath builds his poems on closely observed details. The movement from one line to the next transforms a set of visual items into a meditation. He conveys the unimaginable horrors of Auschwitz and Hiroshima through small details. Heath employs the tools of wit, narrative, and wide learning to present his trenchant observations.

-David Salner



These poetic narratives are by turns poignant, funny, and starkly realistic. Every poem is engrossing, teeming with fascinating storyline detail and imagery. -William Hathaway

Going Places (Kelsay Books, 2023): William Heath is a master at describing his journeys to fascinating, exotic, and challenging places in the world, where people, history, art, and natural beauty inspire his poetry. He weaves unforgettable poems with humor, skill, intelligence, and compassion. Few poets understand the fragility of our world as deeply as Heath does.

-Esperanza Hope Snyder