Words
Conversations on a Raft (The Real Press, 2022)
My first collection of poetry, written during the pandemic but never mentioning it even once.
From the book jacket: “This is poetry of transitory notions, passing fancies and other short-term tenants. Jon shines the same light on garden tools and house pets as he does on true love and nightmares about infanticide. His affinity with memoir gives rise to many of his poems’ personal perspectives, and the rhythms of his words hint at his lifelong passion for songwriting. Music bleeds out of his poems like he’s trying to find something on the radio.”
Cover art by Robert Littleford
Cover art by Leonie Cronin
Immortal Highway (Iguana Books, 2015)
Three months after my wife Susan's death, I packed up my infant son, Myles, and set off on a six-week 'Healing Tour' through Canada and the U.S. grappling with potholes and blind crests as we negotiated the path that lead to our new lives. After a sobering incident in the Rockies, I explored the possibility that, had she lived, Susan and I may still have ended up apart.
"The road trip, inner and outer, weaving together memories and mountains, was a lovely image to carry the whole. I admired its honesty and the way [it] kept on going back to the meaning of grief and how it changed over time."
- Michele Roberts, Author and Professor Emeritus of Creative Writing at UEA
“It’s a terrific read, beautifully written and structured. I particularly admire how honestly [he] dealt with the emotions while, at the same time, avoiding any feeling of overdoing it or slipping towards sentimentality. A nicely honed balance that I found compelling.“
- Judith Barrington, memoirist and author of Writing the Memoir: From Truth to Art