“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.
Featured Audio: Mark A. Pritchard Reads More from “Billy Christmas”
“We have things to discuss” the Christmas tree says to Billy in the dark of the living room after bemoaning its fairy light binds. Billy’s mother is sick in bed, his father is missing, and the pine tree he was given by the charitable proprietor of his local stand is about to thrust him into a magical adventure which will color forevermore how he thinks about family and what it means to be an adult. Hear Mark A. Pritchard dramatize this important scene from his novel, Billy Christmas.
ASP Author’s Gift Guide for Book Lovers (PART 2)
Gift guide part 2 features Mysteries, Travel Writing, and Books about Northern California.
ASP Authors’ Gift Guide for Book Lovers
Well, it’s that time of year again, when holiday gift lists are popping up all over. Here at ASP HQ, we’re particularly interested, of course, in gifts for book-lovers, and we’ve noticed a curious fact: No matter how diverse the sources of these lists, a few titles pop up again and again. Usually these are recently published, widely reviewed best-sellers. While there’s nothing necessarily wrong with that, gift-givers might find themselves putting one more copy of the current hot mystery, or history, or memoir under a book-loving friend’s tree.