Glass Garden, Poems by Ken Pobo
The essential sharpness of Ken Pobo’s eye is on full display in the poems of Glass Garden. Carefully etched, his lines are rich and faithful to the details of the world. In Pobo’s garden, everything merits—and rewards—scrutiny.
“Like going to an upscale thrift shop, there are buried treasures to unearth in Ken Pobo’s fourth book—the fragility and beauty of antique glass, cobalt blue and ruby red, of long-lived relationships, of roses in a summer garden. Each poem is a delicate construction of the fragility and ephemeral nature of it all. Pobo wants to hear, and wants us to hear, a glass ‘sing from being touched.’ He’s not afraid to get his hands dirty. Even in the winter garden, even in the broken glass, the very shards are beautiful.”—Barbara Crooker, author of Radiance and Line Dance
“Ken Pobo is a master at writing the essential poem—every word counts. With a Keatsian sensibility, he draws our attention to the natural world, its rich diversity, the human condition, and how the nineteenth century’s industrial paradigm has produced the worst global threats, the politics of greed and violence, of our times. As a poet, educator, gardener and social critic, Pobo’s sympathy for the victims of corporate exploitation are the materials of his poetic conscience. Imaginative, humorous, witty, ironic—Pobo uses his magic to wake the soul and stun the heart. Without being judgmental, academic or didactic, he reminds us of what we all sadly lost to some alarm: Our humanity. It’s always a pleasure to read and reread Ken Pobo’s work!”—Jacqueline Marcus, editor of www.ForPoetry.com and author of Close to the Shore (Michigan State University Press)
“Ken Pobo speaks in a fresh urgent voice of glass and home. In time of war, he gardens and loves. The door to his poems swings open to all.”—Margaret Robinson
Kenneth Pobo teaches Creative Writing and English at Widener University in Pennsylvania. His book Introductions (Pearl’s Book’Em Press) was published in 2003. His poems have appeared widely in literary journals.
ISBN: 978-1934999189, 112 pages, $18.00