Kirjahaku

Although J.R. Solonche started placing poems in magazine, journals, and anthologies in the early 70s, his first book of poetry, Peach Girl: Poems for a Chinese Daughter, co-written with his wife, did not appear until 2002 and his own first collection, Beautiful Day, not until 2015. Just this March, Years Later, his twenty-second book, was published. That's a lot of books, too many for most readers to buy. But they don't have to. They can buy just one. It's his twenty-third. Selected Poems: 2002 - 2021 is a generous offering of his favorite poems from most of those books, including the two nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, Invisible (2017) and Piano Music (2020) and the 2020 Shelf Unbound Notable Indie Book, The Porch Poems. In her introduction to Selected Poems: 2002-2021, Grace Cavalieri says, "The absolute best remark I can make about this book is that I would give it to non-readers of poems as a conversion to poetry, for its language is as available as rain; hopeful as sunshine; and fresh as the wind. It's a perfect book to let the reading public know that this is America's poetry. This is a serious book disguised as playfulness, and we are its lucky recipients."J.R. Solonche has published poetry in more than 400 magazines, journals, and anthologies since the early 70s.

Old is the summation of a life's wisdom, rendered in small, pithy lines that are dense with knowledge.

Solonche, an accomplished poet, employs various forms in this compilation, including haiku, prose poem, and free verse. The poems often imaginatively enter into the natural or material world via anthropomorphic similes.... Many works have an aphoristic quality that recall Zen koans, and they can be playfully amusing or even silly.... A strong set of sympathetic but never sentimental observations.-Kirkus ReviewsThese poems catch the reader off-guard in playful profundity. While always mindful of the tradition of poetry masquerading as direct statement (the likes of W.C. Williams, Robert Bly, Robert Creeley, and Charles Bukowski), J.R. Solonche nevertheless "makes it new," through his masterful use of understatement, aphorism, word play, and anaphora-raising poem after insightful poem from the familiar and often overlooked "little things" of the poet's day-to-day encounter with the world. -Phillip Sterling The tone is established from the outset: wry, wise, sardonic and playful, drawing the reader irresistibly in. Solonche is revealed as a philosopher in the mould of Wittgenstein: aphoristic, charismatic, acerbic and oddly mystical. If you met this book in a bar, you would definitely want to take it home with you and every day thereafter congratulate yourself on how lucky you've been. But that is true of all his books.-David Mark Williams

Praise for J.R. SoloncheSolonche is productive and prolific, but that doesn't water down his poetry... He can compress a philosophical treatise into three lines... His epigrammatic tidy poems are philosophic gems. Solonche sees humor and encapsulates it; he frames a thought in perfect verse... He's playful and profound-the more he writes, the more he seems to know. Beneath the Solonche simplicity are significant social comments, and his goodwill reinforces the best in us.-Grace Cavalieri, Washington Independent Review of BooksSolonche, an accomplished poet, employs various forms in this compilation, including haiku, prose poem, and free verse. The poems often imaginatively enter into the natural or material world via anthropomorphic similes... Many works have an aphoristic quality that recall Zen koans, and they can be playfully amusing or even silly... A strong set of sympathetic but never sentimental observations.-Kirkus ReviewsThe best feature of Solonche's poetry is its diversity. Everyone who encounters this volume (including the postman who delivers it to you) will find something in it to understand and remember-and a great deal to enjoy.-Tony Beyer According to Lord Polonius in Hamlet, "brevity is the soul of wit." In the poetry of J. R. Solonche, brevity, soul, and wit co-exist superbly. Start with any of his poems. You'll find, unlike much of what is written these days, the wit is never far from the surface. As for the brevity, imagine an appetizer that's as filling as a main course. And, after the meal, after the laughter, the soul will be what lingers. -John Grey

Piano Music, the new poetry collection from JR Solonche, presents him at his best. The wit, the insights, the playfulness, the craft, the profundity, and yes, at times the silliness, are all here on full display to the delight of the reader, whether that reader be new to the Solonche universe or one returning for more.

J.R. Solonche is the author of more than forty collections of poetry. Barren Road is his latest release.Praise for J.R. Solonche "Solonche is productive and prolific, but that doesn't water down his poetry... He can compress a philosophical treatise into three lines... His epigrammatic tidy poems are philosophic gems. Solonche sees humor and encapsulates it; he frames a thought in perfect verse... He's playful and profound - the more he writes, the more he seems to know. Beneath the Solonche simplicity are significant social comments, and his goodwill reinforces the best in us." -Grace Cavalieri, Washington Independent Review of Books "Solonche, an accomplished poet, employs various forms in this compilation, including haiku, prose poem, and free verse. The poems often imaginatively enter into the natural or material world via anthropomorphic similes... Many works have an aphoristic quality that recall Zen koans, and they can be playfully amusing or even silly... A strong set of sympathetic but never sentimental observations." -Kirkus Reviews "The tone is established from the outset: wry, wise, sardonic and playful, drawing the reader irresistibly in. Solonche is revealed as a philosopher in the mold of Wittgenstein: aphoristic, charismatic, acerbic and oddly mystical. If you met this book in a bar, you would definitely want to take it home with you and every day thereafter congratulate yourself on how lucky you've been. But that is true of all his books." -David Mark Williams

Poet J. R. Solonche adds The Book of a Small Fisherman to his impressive list of over thirty published poetry collections. His poems, says Chase Twichell, "are an extraordinary amalgam of wit, close observation, humor, and clear-seeing. Each one singles out and illuminates an ordinary moment-ordinary, that is, until the poet explodes into a miniature epiphany. Easy of access and frequently profound, J. R. Solonche's poems induce in me a state of delighted surprise."

Poet J. R. Solonche adds The Eglantine to his impressive list of over thirty published poetry collections. Of Solonche's poems, poet Sarah White wrote "Sample one by one these epigrammatic, epiphenomenal, Epicurean episodes as if they were puffs from a tower of pastry. Savor the zest of lemon, the pinch of sea salt, the dollop of cr me fraiche, and the absence of any more sugar than necessary to ease the ingestion of truth. A feast for fanatics of language and lovers of pith."

Poet J. R. Solonche adds God to his impressive list of published poetry collections. Nominated for the National Book Award, the Eric Hoffer Book Award, and nominated three times for the Pulitzer Prize, J. R. Solonche is the author of thirty-six books of poetry and coauthor of another.

Poet J. R. Solonche adds Then Morning to his impressive list of over thirty published poetry collections. "These small bites of poetic moments," says reviewer Allan Johnston, "jump like Zen koans, haiku, truncated Blake or Dickinson passages, and pithy epitaphs. These minimalizing characteristics result in pieces that jump out at you because of their irreverent, surprisingly spiritual, and often exceedingly funny approach."