Roslyn Heights resident Norbert Krapf has had his latest volume of verse, The Country I Come From, published by Archer Books, Santa Maria, CA. The volume represents Mr. Krapf's 12th collection of poetry and as the title suggests, primarily includes poems set in the author's native southern Indiana area.

Mr. Krapf will be promoting the book with a series of readings in the Roslyn area. On Sunday, Aug. 18, he will give a reading at Cedarmere, the William Cullen Bryant house in Roslyn Harbor. On Thursday, Sept. 26, he will be at the Barnes & Noble in Manhasset. In October, he will give readings at the Bryant Library in Roslyn (Thursday, Oct. 10) and at Canio's Books, Sag Harbor on Monday, Oct. 28.

Mr. Krapf's 2000 volume, Bittersweet Along the Expressway: Poems of Long Island and two previous books, Arriving on Paumanok and East of New York City, examined life in Long Island and the Roslyn area, including both their history and present day concerns. His current book returns to themes displayed in his 1993 book, Somewhere in Southern Indiana.

A writer for whom place has been a major inspiration, Mr. Krapf continues his exploration of family history, relationships between people of different backgrounds, nature, and the passage of time. The collection includes Fire and Ice winner of the Lucille Medwick Memorial Award. In addition to evoking the "mythical homeland" of both southern Indiana and the American Heartland, the volume's title echoes a line from Midwestern songwriter Bob Dylan, himself the subject of a tribute (Song for Bob Dylan).

Don Mattingly, another Midwesterner who made his mark in New York, is also the inspiration for a poem. An earlier poem celebrated the ballplayer in his prime years. Letter from Mattingly Country (itself southern Indiana) reflects on the final, lean years of the former New York Yankee first baseman's career, as the poet speaks for working-class Hoosiers who still find pride in their favorite son's efforts and the fact that he finally carried a Yankee team into "eternal October."

Most of the poems concern the region's native American heritage, plus descriptions of farm life chores, and family history. It also includes a poem, One Voice from Many written for the 100th commencement of Mr. Krapf's alma mater, St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana.

A native of Jasper, Indiana, Mr. Krapf has received degrees from both St. Joseph's and the University of Notre Dame. Since 1970, he has taught at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University, where he currently directs the poetry center. His other books of verse include Blue-Eyed Grass: Poems of Germany. He is also the author of a memoir, The Sunday Before Thanksgiving, and the editor of an essay collection on William Cullen Bryant and the early poems of Rainer Maria Rilke.

During his long career, Mr. Krapf has been compared by critics to such literary giants as Walt Whitman, Eudora Welty, Wendell Berry, and William Faulkner. The Country Where I Come From shows no letup in his creative output.