Bibliophile

by James Thomas Fletcher

Poetry. "Bibliophile" has three sections. Poems about family fill 'The Tie that Binds.' Ekphrastic poetry is the theme of 'A Thousand Words.' The book ends with a section of humorous poems, 'Flights of Fancy.'

Genres: Poetry

110 pages, Hardcover

First published March 7, 2022

About the author

James Thomas Fletcher is native to Oklahoma. After a brief stint in college, he left the state to see if the rest of the world existed. Along the way, he picked cotton, made fiberglass and, in hazmat suit, cleaned filters inside a nuclear laundry. He was an M-60 machine gunner in the Central Highlands of Vietnam, company clerk at Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, (NATO\SHAPE) in Belgium, bartender in South Carolina, bricklayer in Oklahoma, oil field chainhand in Louisiana, roustabout in the Gulf of Mexico, English instructor in North Carolina, and Director of Computer-Aided Instruction at the University of Illinois in Chicago.

Academically, he holds Master’s of Arts in English degrees in Creative Writing and Composition & Rhetoric, has been honored for outstanding teaching, and presented at national and international conferences on the subject of computer pedagogy. In addition, he has earned Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer and Advanced Certified Novell Administrator computer certifications.

Now retired, his motorcycle and hang glider long since sold. His pilot's license expired. He no longer restores pinball machines, skydives, scubas, sails, or paints. He has forgotten how to play the bagpipe. His didgeridoo sits idle. He was once removed by the director from a part in his own stage play, but that has not discouraged him from continuing to write. He has written short stories, plays, and screenplays, but favors poetry.

He lives on the side of a volcano in the Republic of Panamá

Reviews

[Byron Edgington · Rating 5 out of 5]

Okay, I've said this before about Fletcher's poetry, but this is his best yet. From 'Before I Was Born', to 'Shihab' with 'shooting stars forever blinking in the river of night' to 'Creation Myth' with its Giant stuff...Wet stuff. Us.' these are soul-satisfying poems. Fletcher's trips down memory lane avoid sentiment, and yet...they include a kind of epic wherein a distant relative crossed Oklahoma territory with, it appears, little more than two silver dollars to his name, grandparents, parents, uncles, a brother, cousins live and die, and the poet etches all their stones with an epitaph for the ages. These works harken back to a simpler, albeit leaner time when dads could retrieve newspapers in their undershorts, and nuclear families actually supped together. Distinctly different from past works depicting Panama or Texas, these poems match the generations that 'blow through these old plains' evoking a geography the poet clearly knows in his bones. They're not all serious business. 'They Walked Here' has the Moai playing games with old Dutch captains, and 'Words in the Shape of a Ghazal' has the author 'signing off', his duty done. My favorite? 'Juniper Plums', as I'm a sucker for ABCB, and also for its reference to the whimsical in nature, 'The sun shone bright through pale moonlight and turned the night to weather.' I love that! It reminded me a Noyes' 'The Highwayman' somehow. The ekphrastic poems referencing his artist wife's work are compelling as well. Good stuff!
Bibliophile

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent poetry. But you don't have to take my word, I've gotten wonderful comments about the poems in this book.

· "Made me catch my breath. I haven’t let it go."
· "Beautifully written!"
· "Poet Laureate caliber work."
· "Masterfully woven."
· "Absolute joy to read ... rich and expansive"

As with many of my books, the poems are diverse but the book is divided into familial, ekphrastic, and lightly humorous poems. Easy to read but not to forget.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent poetry. But you don't have to take my word, I've gotten wonderful comments about the poems in this book.

· "Made me catch my breath. I haven’t let it go."
· "Beautifully written!"
· "Poet Laureate caliber work."
· "Masterfully woven."
· "Absolute joy to read ... rich and expansive"

As with many of my books, the poems are diverse but the book is divided into familial, ekphrastic, and lightly humorous poems. Easy to read but not to forget.

[James · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent poetry. But you don't have to take my word, I've gotten wonderful comments about the poems in this book.

· "Made me catch my breath. I haven’t let it go."
· "Beautifully written!"
· "Poet Laureate caliber work."
· "Masterfully woven."
· "Absolute joy to read ... rich and expansive"

As with many of my books, the poems are diverse but the book is divided into familial, ekphrastic, and lightly humorous poems. Easy to read but not to forget.