“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.
Rose Solari’s Interview in The Kenyon Review Shows Us What it Means to be a Literary Citizen
Rose Solari sat down recently with the Kenyon Review’s Kristina Marie Darling to talk about the role of the indie press in fostering literary citizenship.
Anne Lamott and Jasmin Darznik Share their thoughts on Navigating the Divide
What do bestselling authors Anne Lamott and Jasmin Darznik think of Linda Watanabe McFerrin’s “Navigating the Divide”?
The Contemporary Poets and Musicians on Reuben Jackson’s Mind
On Tuesday we ran an article featuring two glowing blurbs for Reuben Jackson’s latest poetry collection Scattered Clouds. They came from two young stalwarts of the American poetry community: National Book Award winner, Terrance Hayes, and Maryland’s own Abdul Ali, author of Trouble Sleeping. In honor of Reuben’s devoted following from within the young-blooded poetry vanguard, and for the sake of utilizing his deep insider knowledge of jazz and its many contemporary standouts (Reuben was curator of the Ellington Collection at the Smithsonian for twenty years), we asked Reuben to recommend and comment on three contemporary poets and three contemporary jazz musicians he admires.