“Scattered Clouds by Reuben Jackson is the balm for the sting of ‘real’ American life”
In the lastest review of "Scattered Clouds" Serena Agusto-Cox explores the pain and triumph in Jackson's poetry.
SERENA AGUSTO-COX recently posted a glowing review of Reuben Jackson's poetry collection "Scattered Clouds" on her excellent blog Savvy Verse & Wit.
In her review, Agusto-Cox focuses on the immense tremors of pain that shake the book at its core and on the hope lingering in their aftermath:
"Scattered Clouds by Reuben Jackson is the balm for the sting of 'real' American life, laced with a hope that we can overcome, persevere, and take the lessons we’ve learned from those lost to us and apply them to our future selves to create a better tomorrow. It’s the coverage we need away from the storm without forgetting that storms do come."
She also pays special attention to the fan-favorite Amir & Khadijah Suite, finding hope in Reuben's love ballads.
"It’s Jackson’s song of hope, either for himself or for all of us. His heart is full of love and it is reaching out to us in line after line searching for connection."
Lastly, Agusto-Cox selects her favorite poem from Scattered Clouds to be "Sunday Brunch."
Scattered Clouds is a volume of lyrical, emotionally forthright meditations on love, loss, and longing. The volume contains the complete text of the author’s award-winning first collection, fingering the keys; his nationally lauded poem, “For Trayvon Martin”; and his suite of ruminations on a long-time and deeply missed friend, the late barbershop owner Amir Yasin, and his widow Khadijah Rollins. These poems, exploring Amir’s late-life romance with Kadijah, became a national internet sensation.
Grace Cavalieri Reviews Navigating the Divide
Maryland Poet Laureate, Grace Cavalieri, reviews the newest book from author Linda Watanabe McFerrin.
Tim Cahill calls ‘Navigating the Divide’ the “Most Rewarding Book I’ve Read This Year”
Learn what famed travel writer, Tim Cahill, has to say about Linda Watanabe McFerrin’s new ASP Legacy Book, “Navigating the Divide.”
Joanna Biggar Reveals the Heart’s Center of her Newest Novel
After 2015’s That Paris Year which followed a group of young women on their year-abroad at the Sorbonne—their youthful flings as well as their many rites of adulthood— Joanna Biggar is bringing its spiritual sequel Melanie’s Song overseas to her own hometown in the United States. Set in Califonia amid the cultural revolution of the late 60s early 70s, Melanie’s Song, while not a direct sequel to That Paris Year shares many of its characters and its familiar, lavish lyrical style. In MS, J.J., the protagonist of That Paris Year, a young reporter, is on a quest to find her missing friend, Melanie (the archetypal shy scholarly type and another character from TPY) who fled her marriage to a straight-laced classical musician in order to hitch-hike to Woodstock and San Francisco.