Böcker av Jerome Gagnon

In Refuge for Cranes, Jerome Gagnon writes at the intersection of inner and outer landscapes, finding refuge in nature, art, and awareness itself. These are poems of wonder and alarm, in awe of the natural world yet full of concern for the harm we do to it, and to ourselves. They range in topic from climate fires and the demise of bees to the "transparency of grace" and "the soul's deep-down unfathoming." There's praise here for beauty, glinting among the detritus, but there's also a call to action, a plea to restore a damaged world. "If you enter these pages, be prepared to open yourself wider to the world, like a flower to the sun," said Phyllis Cole-Dai, author and co-editor of the anthologies, Poetry of Presence I & II." "Gagnon's touching poems remind us of the beauty and value of nature now threatened worldwide by our carelessness," commented George Archibald, co-founder of the International Crane Foundation.

The poems in Spell of the Ordinary reflect the perennial in the everyday, suggesting that deep attention to the moment invites renewal, even in the midst of loss. "There must be hundreds of kinds of happiness," the poet notes in First Frost, "and most of us know so few of them. Shouldn't we at least know their names? Or if not that, act as if we do, as if we've known them all our lives, welcoming them with open arms when they come to us unannounced, possibly icy and aflame, and then watch them change, as they will…" "In this stunning collection, Jerome Gagnon exalts 'evidence of the enduring mutable,'" writes Lana Hechtman Ayers, author of The Dead Boy Sings in Heaven. "Spell of the Ordinary is a contemplative song that modulates between Gregorian chant and blues hymn, between 'deep thrum' and 'muffled clapping.' Here you will find beauty in discord and discard, loveliness in the moment and in the minute. Remorse and redemption permeate these poems the way 'a mist touches everything.' Spaces are spare, remote, yet welcome with 'a wink of paradise.' What surrounds us is not separable from our being, with 'each of us taking on something of the other.'"

"Rumors of Wisdom impressed me throughout with poems about very specific things, or memories, or details; specifics that often metaphorically stand for bigger things. The details are interesting and fresh, as in 'Barometer.' The poet uses a good deal of artistic language and viewpoint, as if seeing the world through a painter's eyes. From time to time the odd technical term may pose a challenge, but it also serves as an opportunity for readers to broaden their vocabulary. This collection stands out for its breadth of scope."-Timons Esaias, Louis Award Judge, author of Why Elephants No Longer Communicate in Greek "One finds in this collection poems of the rare sort that come quietly, like a cat prowling about in the midnight hour, looking hard into the darkness for what stirs. Luminous, lyric, sparkling with wit and the kind of subtle wisdom that comes from a long, slow, generous looking at life… these poems are simply irresistible in their appeal."-Mark S. Burrows, Ph.D., Poetry Editor of Spiritus, author of Meister Eckhart's Book of the Heart: Meditations for the Restless Soul, with Jon M. Sweeney "Remorse and redemption permeate these poems the way 'a mist touches everything.' Spaces are spare, remote, yet welcome with 'a wink of paradise.' What surrounds us is not separable from our being, with 'each of us taking on something of the other.'"-Lana Hechtman Ayers, Managing Editor of Concrete Wolf Press, author of Red Riding Hood's Real Life