The Porch Poems received notable indie in 2020 from Shelf Unbound
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The Porch Poems
J.R. Solonche
ISBN: 978-1-7343884-2-8
6 x 9; 106 pages; $18.00
The Porch poems - a Best Indie book of 2020 - Shelf Unbound
Praise for other books by J.R. Solonche available from Deerbrook Editions:
BEAUTIFUL DAY
The spirit of Horace, the melancholy of time slithering away and turning all to dust, tempered with art, wit and good grace: Solonche’s is the Horatian spirit for our time and place.
—Ricardo Nirenberg, editor of Offcourse
WON’T BE LONG
I can’t stress this enough: this is honestly one of the best and most enjoyable books of poetry I’ve ever read, and I’ve read thousands. This is also the rare sort of
book that you could hand either to a factory worker or a gilded academic and both would be left speechless.
—Michael Meyerhofer, author of Ragged Eden and What To Do If You’re Buried Alive
I, EMILY DICKINSON & OTHER FOUND POEMS
I, Emily Dickinson & Other Found Poems, by J.R. Solonche, is an absolute delight. I have read it more than three times. To do it justice, I’d want to quote liberally from the many
priceless entries found in books, newspapers, field guides, menus, things read in bathrooms, overheard in museums but I’m certainly not going to do that. Often the pleasure in the
found poem lies in the ridicule it carries, the smug joy of the reader in the crazy obtuseness of the anonymous source. Here this is hardly the case.
—Sally Fisher, author of The Square Halo
TOMORROW, TODAY, AND YESTERDAY
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.” 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 and the Louise Bogan Award