Help Is on the Way

by John Brehm

Help Is On the Way takes readers from the subways of New York City to the savannas of Paleolithic Africa to the transplant ward of Kyoto University Hospital. But whatever their setting, these poems are enlivened by the subtle music, penetrating wit, and remarkable emotional honesty that won high praise for John Brehm’s earlier collection, Sea of Faith , and constitute his singularly engaging voice.

Genres: Poetry

80 pages, Paperback

First published March 26, 2012

Reviews

[Kirsten · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and have changed my mind about five times as I flipped through it just now over which enticing poem or portion of poem to post here. I could post something from any page to say, look how great this is! How funny and engaging! How zen-simple and complex. Here's one part from a long poem called "Lineage":

XVII

"For the duck's legs, though short, cannot be
lengthened without causing dismay
to the duck." That's what

Chang-Tzu said, rendering all subsequent
philosophy an overcomplicated after-
thought. If you get that

one sentence, you need not read Kierkegaard
or Freud, not to mention Saint
Augustine or Kant.

Every tragedy in our history and in our own
ragged lives is triggered by
a willingness to

cause dismay to the duck. Or to the tiger,
who has a famously low tolerance
for being dismayed.

Chang-Tzu perceived the duckly nature
of the duck and did not wish it
were otherwise.

Whereas my own life is filled with birds
staggering around on stilt-like
legs. Unable to fly.

[Sundry · Rating 5 out of 5]

I took a long to e with this book, rereading portions and individual poems multiple times. Wonderful turns of thought and wit abound. This is one of my all time favorite books of poetry. I'm going to start it again right now.

[A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Brehm's language is simple and direct. He doesn't play academic games or make allusions that will send you scurrying to Wikipedia. He speaks to his readers with humility and humor with poems touching upon topics as mundane as the New York City subway system and as profound as flying across the world to donate his liver to a beloved relative. Despite his frequently mentioned insomnia, a buddhist sense of calm informs these succinct poems.

[Karen Douglass · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wonderful, sad, energetic poems that stream from this poet's life. A model to follow.

[David Mayo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Breathtakingly beautiful, meaningful.

We read poetry in bits, yet every time I came back, I came back to the same presence and feeling.