The You We Know and Love

"There is an emotional breadth and depth to Tim's work that is palpable. A deep sense of abiding presence and immediacy felt in each poem; as if he's sitting there with you, across some table in a comfortable, darkened café. Two friends, swapping stories. Time well spent. And his words: the kind of intimate and profound vignettes about what colors our thoughts, holds our spirits captive, ruminates in the deepest parts of our mind."

-Vincent Larson, author of "Ashtapadi: Webs of Light."

"Like Whitman before him, Timothy Tarkelly takes anything and everything as his subject, and of particular interest to both poets is the human condition. The deep empathy Tarkelly shows the characters who populate his work anchors this collection, particularly in those poems he uses to examine his own past. But he's no narcissist, reserving the bulk of his attention for the world around him, even when he is present in a given poem, and that is one of his greatest strengths.

Another asset is the pure relatability of these pieces. Tarkelly's chosen topics range from history to religion, emotional health to love and longing, workaday life to consumerism-in other words, issues most of us grapple with every day. And he addresses them in language that is accessible to all: those who are new to poetry, those who have been reading verse for years, and even those who think they have no interest in the enterprise. Such a writer is a rare gem, and I propose that we keep this one in our collection."

-Caitlin Johnson, Author of "Gods in the Wilderness" and "WAR/La Guerre"

"Tim Tarkelly's poetry is another example that the best poetry right now is coming out of the midwest. 21st-century modernist truths for a second lost generation who long for the little moments of life so they can yearn for more."

-Daniel W. Wright, Author of "Brian Epstein Died for You"