spuytenduyvil

Jim Dunn’s observant eye looks

On with exquisite concision as he

Turns the haiku inside-out

     Neeli Cherkovski

 

The publication of Jim Dunn’s first poetry book in more than a decade is reason to rejoice. This Silence is a Junkyard embodies the wisdom and generosity of spirit that have made Jim a welcome presence in the Boston area poetry community for years. With hokku-like brevity and wit, Dunn’s poems are intimate invitations to his continual, open-focus process: the heart’s “common rhythm” finding “momentary grace”. A word angler by trade, Dunn feels his way by measure across current and tide, in kind with hooks at the ends of lines cast sharp and quick: “A clue to your soul / Found within the flickering / Lost within the sun.” Like modest courage teachers, Dunn knows to work on the other side of time, as a guest of eternal space. Join him here, in this shadow of an open book, in this place where silence speaks.

     Andrew Peterson