Tomorrow, Today, and Yesterday - Deerbrook Editions

From the back cover

In Norse mythology, Odin approaches the king of the trolls and asks him to reveal the secret to life. The troll says he’ll reveal it only if Odin gives him his left eye. When Odin complies, the troll says, with a twisted grin, “the secret is to watch with both eyes.” Whether they inquire into the true nature of a cherry tree, reimagine the lives of figures from Greek mythology, or question the nature of poetry itself, the poems in Tomorrow, Today and Yesterday are the work of a poet who is, in the words of his poem, “awake with both eyes.” Odin looks on with envy, because J.R. Solonche not only sees the secrets of the world’s often-overlooked minutia, but also has the gift of translating those mysteries for those who read his crafted words.

—Stephen Cramer, winner of the National Poetry Series & the Louise Bogan Award

The history of book blurbs is littered with high falutin’ praise, wacky and wild metaphors, written to impress not to inform. All I need to say about J.R. Solonche’s poems is that they are good, really, really good. So much so that they have a high “I-wish-I’d-written-that” envy factor. That’s a compliment I hand out to very few poets writing today. You want wit? You want humour? You want erudition? You want them all mixed into poems? Try Solonche. You won’t be disappointed. Envious perhaps, but not disappointed.

—John Murphy, Editor, The Lake: Contemporary Poetry Webzine (UK)

Where editors change “salvia” to “saliva” and the Starbucks Mermaid is the queen of the land, J.R. Solonche writes with a zen-like, wry bemusement and an ease only achieved with the wisdom of age. His one sentence poems are like Matisse’s line drawings, crisp and precise. Solonche slyly gives William Carlos Williams a nod in his poem “Paterson,” as I’m sure Williams would have returned the gesture through “cherry tree eyes.”

—Donna Reis, author of No Passing Zone

In a style that favors brevity and pith, J.R. Solonche brings a richness of experience, observation, and wit into his poems. Here is the world! they exclaim. And here, and here, and here! Watched over by ancient lyric gods—Time, Death, and Desire—we find the quotidian here transformed.

—Christopher Nelson, Editor, Green Linden Press