A.J.M. Smith
A world of essence, primitive and chaotic, made of earth, air, fire, and waters . . . spilt blood, split woods; cries, horses, fish; Anabasis half begun, half finished in the New Brunswick woods . . . Poetry so unique as to be beyond ‘originality.
From the Publisher
PRAISE FOR JOHN THOMPSON AND STILT JACK:“A world of essence, primitive and chaotic, made of earth, air, fire, and waters . . . spilt blood, split woods; cries, horses, fish; Anabasis half begun, half finished in the New Brunswick woods . . . Poetry so unique as to be beyond ‘originality.’” — A. J. M. Smith“In the last years of his life, apparently, John Thompson craved a poetry of extremis, of damnation. That implacable mystique has taken hold of poets from Baudelaire to John Berryman; Thompson’s surrender to it, in Stilt Jack, is an arresting performance of the part. And a deeply troubling one.” — Dennis Lee
PRAISE FOR JOHN THOMPSON:“John Thompson searched deeply among humanity’s most hidden places and brought back to us poems of remarkable beauty. The uncollected poems and translations only add to the greatness of his gift. No one who reads his life’s work can go away unchanged.” — Patrick Lane, winner of the Governor General’s Literary Award“What lasts, words like hooks to catch trout, love that got away.” — D. G. Jones, author of Under the Thunder the Flowers Light up the Earth
Dennis Lee
In the last years of his life, apparently, John Thompson craved a poetry of extremis, of damnation. That implacable mystique has taken hold of poets from Baudelaire to John Berryman; Thompson’s surrender to it, in Stilt Jack, is an arresting performance of the part. And a deeply troubling one.
