The Circle Line

The figurative subtlety and range of these poems made this book an imaginative feast. Throughout, I had a sense that I was being presented the story of a life by means of a deeper language, as if Jorn Ake has figured out how to speak directly through the feelings that attach to actions, objects and memories. With a work this metaphorical, I look at what recurs--the desert and childhood, photography and music, violence on a personal and political scale--and there is an ongoing, loving nod to the artists who have shaped this poet's mind. I also sense that what drives his work is a desire to characterize the feeling of a time period, the later 20th century, with all its 'blindness/flying moth-crazy about the light.' I cannot turn away from these poems. This is a fascinating book--Bob Hickok.