Leda: Poems by J. R. Solonche
Dos Madres Press, May 2023

In Leda, his thirty-first poetry collection, J.R. Solonche once again proves that he has not lost his wit, insight, playfulness, honesty, and empathy. William Carlos Williams once said that “if it ain’t a pleasure, it ain’t a poem.” So once again, pleasure after pleasure in the form of poem after poem in page after page here await the reader. An excerpt from “TREE WORK”:

The tree crew is trimming a large oak.
Take off that one, the boss on the ground says.
What for? It looks all right, says the trimmer in the cherry picker.
I don’t like the looks of it. Take it off, says the boss on the ground.
But the one above it on this side is really bad, says the trimmer in the cherry picker.
No, no, that’s not a problem. Do what I said, says the boss on the ground.
You’re wrong, boss. You’re making a mistake, says the trimmer in the cherry picker.
Okay, okay, take ‘em both off, says the boss on the ground.
You got it, boss, says the trimmer in the cherry picker.
Jesus, why can’t all the world’s problems be solved so easily?

The Lost Notebook of Zhao Li
Poetry by J.R. Solonche
Dos Madres Press, September 2022

When J.R. Solonche published The Five Notebooks of Zhao Li in November of 2021, it was called an “intriguing set of philosophical poems…a novel in verse [that] offers a glimpse into the most personal thoughts of a creative thinker.” Filled with more of the wise, witty, profound, silly, thoughtful, thoughtless, koan-like musings, The Lost Notebook of Zhao Li can be considered the sixth and final chapter in the tale of this 75-year-old poet/philosopher, who if asked which one he is, would answer: “Both, but not at the same time.”