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They Never Told Me This Would Happen
Poems by John Yamrus Art by R L Raymond 50 pages $10 plus shipping ISBN 978-1-926860-12-1 Epic Rites Press, June 2012 
www.TreeKillerInk.com
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“This is an impressive book of pared down poems. No one can cut the guts out of language and leave things bare but accessible like Yamrus. He is the antithesis of circumlocution.”
—George Anderson “John Yamrus’ poems are stunningly deceptive. Frank O’Hara meets William Carlos Williams musing on what seems the ordinary and suddenly you arrive at the vale of soul-making moment. The poems demand the reader re-think the world. These poems, which appear, with their short lines and conversational quickness, to be somewhat breezy, in fact demand the reader plunge into their complexity. Fine stuff here.”
—Mark Statman “John Yamrus doesn’t waste a single word. His poems are finely honed shards carved from the essential stuff of life.”
—William Taylor Jr. “Yamrus doesn’t go where no man has gone before, but rather, goes where we all have gone, discovering nuances that have gone unnoticed. More sleuth than adventurer, Yamrus susses out the truth.”
—RD Armstrong “Reading John Yamrus is like a quick bike ride through the trails. You have fun. You work out. You meet people, maybe nod ‘hey’ or comment on their dogs, and move along. If you slow down too long, your sunglasses fog up and the bugs start to bite. So you ride home at a good clip, wondering what those folks are really like, all while hoping you don’t hit a stump and break your face.”
—R L Raymond |
“Thank you, Mr. John Yamrus, for writing They Never Told Me This Would Happen. It’s not often, but when I open a book and forget where I am until the last page, well, I don’t forget it.”
—Carmen Adamucci “In this latest collection, John Yamrus continues his mastery of the short poem: always pithy and sometimes pissed–off; lazer-sharp and pinpoint accurate; word-thrifty; rhythmically balanced; and constantly accruing the wisdom of the years.”
—Gerald Locklin “John Yamrus, to me, is the Jim Henson of poetry. Combining a wry sense of humor, acuity of vision, and directness of language, his most recent collection of short poems, They Never Told Me This Would Happen, is a reader’s delight. Yamrus pulls the strings, inhabits the body, projects the voice of his own combination of Oscar the Grouch and Big Bird: playful, gripy, and slyly optimistic. From the nontraditional love song “she” to the playful tease of “Q” to the life lesson of “the,” Yamrus’ voice leads us through conventionally un-poetic terrain. They Never Told Me This Would Happen should be a primary text for every writer who thinks they know poetry.”
—Annmarie Lockhart “John Yamrus builds a poem the way a kitchen table or sacred armchair tells a story; punchy, sentimental, and ruthlessly honest. They Never Told Me This Would Happen is a collection of unabashed truths, practical realizations, and writing that never backs down. Yamrus’ stripped-down composition is something to be admired and appreciated, pulling back the fluff and packing a punch right into the reader’s gut that transcends the tales on the page to effectively involve his audience.”
—Lawrence Gladeview |
