Distant Engines

Ryan Vine has localized many of the distances our lives traverse; his words lead us back to an unfaced reality. To Ward, the poet's persona hero, these to-ward directions bear both in- and out-ward, confronting himself with himself. Readers will find their ways in these arrivals.   

—Bill Knott​

​

These poems take us to a world unlike any other: a world of bonfires, kazoos, shortwave, and a tragi-comic character named Ward. Ryan Vine's work is lively, tough and wise, and Distant Engines marks the debut of an important poet.   

—John Skoyles 

​

Ryan Vine's poems are precisely expressed and precisely envisioned. His ear and eye are first rate. In addition, the poems are a pleasure to read, often a rarity these days. Distant Engines is a wonderful beginning.   —Stephen Dobyns

​

The poems in Distant Engines are lean, direct, unsentimental, even gritty. We’re taken to the bars and ore docks, to the jetty, to a “Sunday night at Centerfolds,” out to Morgan Park and the steel mill, to an old downtown Duluth that’s more alive at midnight than it is at noon. We spend a hard night out with these poems, but by morning we feel we’ve learned something not just valuable but essential: Life is difficult; poetry is required.    —Connie Wanek