John Freeman, writing in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel, praised Sally's Hair by noting: "We're wrapped around [Koethe's] finger."

He cited passages that alternatively explored the poet's most intimate layers before "ricochet[ing] back out into airy ponderings.

"[7] Robert Hahn, writing for The Kenyon Review, noted how Koethe's poetry paid homage to legendary literary influences, yet still retained a distinctively trenchant voice.

"[8] Andrew Yaphe, writing in the Chicago Review, hailed Koethe as being "widely recognized as one of our foremost Romantic poets, an inheritor of the tradition of Stevens and Ashbery.

He is a fellow of the American Academy in Berlin, and the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the Council for Wisconsin Writers.