David Guterson – Poetry

Most outdoor enthusiasts understand the phrase “turn around time” as that point in an adventure when you must cease heading out in order to have enough time to safely return to camp or home—regardless of whether you have reached your destination.

For award-winning novelist David Guterson, it is also a metaphor for where we find ourselves in the middle of our lives, and his new narrative poem explores this idea through a lyrical journey along a trail, much like those in Washington’s mountain ranges which he hiked while growing up. David’s book-length poem, Turn Around Time: A Walking Poem for the Pacific Northwest will be published by Mountaineers Books in September 2019. The recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, he lives on Bainbridge Island near Seattle with his wife Robin. They have five children.