Poetry. WALKING BACKWARDS is a collection of longer prose poems in which life seems to lean into the absurd to laugh, while quietly relishing the beauty of a private thought. Loosely organized around an Italian-American theme, the characters and voices of these prose poems and short stories consider the merits of Fergus Falls, being a gladiator or a poet, 45-minute operas, and the quest for a "new hit song." Dennis Barone is the author of numerous books of poetry and fiction, including ECHOES and TEMPLE OF THE RAT.