A Place for Poets discussion

Controlled Hallucinations
John Sibley Williams pares down and removes the extraneous to expose what is absolutely needed: the possibilities. He bravely turns language over on its side and we are left with how things could fit back together in unexpected and elegant turns. The poems in this book repeatedly draw you to a stop with stunning insights, which will hold you long after you have put it down.

--Bonnie Nish, Executive Director Pandora's Collective Outreach Society

In a universe written in the forms of questions, John Sibley Williams strums his fingers along finely tuned blends of thoughts and images. Enter the intimate conversations of these poems, but do not expect easy ways out. Watch out for the openings that will land you on the map of your own astonishment.

--Daniela Elza, author of milk tooth bane bone and the weight of dew

John Sibley Williams' poems are open-ended equations without solvable components. Bleeding, blindness, the absorption of self into the world, problems of identity and continuity, the incongruity of memory and anticipation create "controlled hallucinations" that probe our existence by suspending the coordinates normally associated with the articulation of one's reality. There is a great deal for the heart in these poems. These are skillfully composed black and white photographs, painstakingly hand-tinted.

--Andrea Moorhead, editor of Osiris

Using bones, Williams frames a place for mirrored windows and unobstructed doorways where love can come and go as it pleases. The rooms are floor-less, so photographs, clocks, bedroom walls and the staircase defy gravity. This collection has a haunting quality which makes you want to walk back into the room that you just left and search for what it is you may have missed.

--Rebecca Schumejda, author of Cadillac Men