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[featured in the bookclub Poetry Special]
Definitions of the phrase ultima thule range from “the most distant goal of human endeavor” to “the acme” to “a land remote beyond reckoning.” Davis McCombs takes us both above and below ground and back and forth in time in the cave country of Southcentral Kentucky in this collection of poetry, which concerns itself with all of those things. The poems in Ultima Thule have a deep connection with nature and a strong awareness of the layers of time that a place can accumulate. The first section is in the voice of Stephen Bishop, an African-American slave who served as a cave guide in the 1800s. McCombs also has worked as a guide at Mammoth, and the poems told in a more autobiographical voice explore the separateness and yet interdependence of the world below and the world above, the intertwining of past and present, and the role of man today in dealing with history.
Blurbs from the book jacket
Card catalog entry from the Library of Congress
Publisher’s information page from Yale University Press
Amazon.com information page
Barnes and Noble information page
Review from the Austin Chronicle
Mammoth Cave National Park
Stephen Bishop, Cave Guide (PDF file)
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