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
Jim Dunn is the author of Soft Launch (Bootstrap Press/Pressed Wafer, 2008), Convenient Hole (Pressed Wafer, 2004), and Insects In Sex (Fallen Angel Press, 1995). His work has appeared in Castle Grayskull, Blazing Stadium, Can We Have Our Ball Back?, Bright Pink Mosquito, The Process, eoagh, Gerry Mulligan, Cafe Review, Meanie, and the anthology in tribute to John Wieners, The Blind See Only In This World. He edited the John Wieners Journal, A New Book From Rome with Derek Fenner and Ryan Gallagher of Bootstrap Press.