Author Description

Jon Obermeyer's 10th poetry collection arrives like a perfect loaf of sourdough bread, cooling on a kitchen cutting board. Divided into three sections ("Poems for a Pandemic"; "Songs for the Low Sierra" and "Director's Commentary"), these 40 new poems cover a lot of topical ground, drawing on contemporary themes, like the fall-out from the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic. The poet takes refuge from the virus, withdrawing to inner worlds ("Evening Prayer" "Silence Surrounds" and "Postscript, Berkeley") or walking out into nature ("Doe" "Japanese Maple" and "Albany Bulb"). Obermeyer is an accomplished poet and he walks confidently on steady ground, confident in his mature poetic voice and drawing on his talents and expertise traversing the poetic line. Heir to the lineage of the Imagists (Pound, Eliot), and the Beats (particularly Gary Snyder) and to the Fresno Laureate Phil Levine, Obermeyer brings us today's world in minor vignettes which speak to a landscape of larger transformation. From the Shelter in Place: An Introduction: "In early March, 2020, I was in coastal Oregon, working on a client’s book project. We did not know much at the time, but the “virus” was about to escalate. Washington State had the most Covid-19 cases at the time, and I feared Oregon, by proximity, would be next. I high-tailed it home to Sacramento, mask-less, in the middle seat on two crowded Spirit flights. And sure enough, upon arrival: a wicked, week-long cold, but not Covid.For an introverted poet, Governor Newsom’s stay-at-home order was not much of a challenge. To shelter in place for weeks at a time is just what the doctor ordered. I’ve been practicing for this moment for 50 years! I wrote blogs for Medium, penned the occasional poem and began a collection of short stories, Inflection Point. I noticed that a lot of my friends were baking perfect, round loaves of sourdough bread and posting pictures of their artisanal baking online. This is how normal people were coping with a pandemic.I relis