Jack Collom

Poet Simon Pettet gave a wonderful reading of his poetry at our store the other night, and gave us a copy of Jack Collom's new book of poems: Exchanges of Earth and Sky. A poetic ornithology, Joanne Kyger described it this way:

Birds are souls that communicate
between divinities and humans.
They let us know what's going on
- a little bird told me so.
They foretell the future, their perspective
is free and unique and quick,
just like Jack Collom in this
Field Guide to Birds for Poets.

It is that and more - with poems for 96 different birds, quotations from Birds of America, Poultry for Profit, Swine Husbandry and more, -
and speaks on out into the air:
"....................................However, by
now, within the ecology of the planet, the reach
of our power far exceeds the
reach of
our understanding. Within
the planet's ecology, we're like
a bomb in a bus"