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Contemplating the End of Insomnia while inside a Postmodern Mausoleum
Tim Heerdink is a tightrope walker. He takes his writing right up to the edge, where one mistake spells disaster. This time the act is expanded to a duo...this time it’s Tim and Jonathan S Baker taking a walk on the wild side, where fear of failure and the chance for success stand compellingly and unforgettably side by side.
- John Yamrus, author of Small Talk
This collection reads like a duet, in which Baker carries the soprano voice and Heerdink a stern basso profundo. The two voices meld nicely in the readers’ ears. These poems speak of a wide spectrum of human experience: love, board games, ars poetica, music, art, suffering, literature, death of a mother, suicide ideation, and even G. Paltrow’s, ahem, intimate candle scent. Each poem is crafted in lithe tones and limber syntax. Baker’s poems feel like the lighter melody, while Heerdink brings a deeper, more muscular counterpoint. We are left by the two collections on an Indiana city street after a violent rain, perhaps outside a bar where a reading is in progress, or maybe a death metal band is playing. Alone, longing for mother, rejoicing at what life can offer us, yet still wondering if we are worthy to remain in it, we leave these poets with a new appreciation for our personal wounds.
- Will Reger, author of Kaleidoscope and Poet Laureate Emeritus of Urbana, Illinois
- John Yamrus, author of Small Talk
This collection reads like a duet, in which Baker carries the soprano voice and Heerdink a stern basso profundo. The two voices meld nicely in the readers’ ears. These poems speak of a wide spectrum of human experience: love, board games, ars poetica, music, art, suffering, literature, death of a mother, suicide ideation, and even G. Paltrow’s, ahem, intimate candle scent. Each poem is crafted in lithe tones and limber syntax. Baker’s poems feel like the lighter melody, while Heerdink brings a deeper, more muscular counterpoint. We are left by the two collections on an Indiana city street after a violent rain, perhaps outside a bar where a reading is in progress, or maybe a death metal band is playing. Alone, longing for mother, rejoicing at what life can offer us, yet still wondering if we are worthy to remain in it, we leave these poets with a new appreciation for our personal wounds.
- Will Reger, author of Kaleidoscope and Poet Laureate Emeritus of Urbana, Illinois
58 pages, Hardcover
Published June 10, 2022
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May 14, 2023
Another white hot stroke of genius from two of the Midwest’s greatest wordsmiths! Contemplating the End of Insomnia While Inside a Postmodern Mausoleum is a full-length shared by Jonathan S Baker and Tim Heerdink, as icy as it is poignant, slapping the reader across their face before whispering sweet nothings in their ear. Beginning with Baker’s brilliantly wit-induced voice, it steamrolls into a literal juggernaut before climaxing with Heerdink’s trademark vibrancy. Get a copy while supplies last!
Displaying 1 of 1 review