A golden thread of rapt but undeceived attention shimmers in every line of this book. It connects a heaven to earth and the mortal past to many, many futures. In the poetry of Jack Ridl, fearful symmetries are broken by this thread, and we who read are the freer and finer for it.
~Donald Revell, Author of Penny Weight Windows: New &Amp; Selected Poems
In Broken Symmetry, Jack Ridl writes with a directness and clarity that reminds me of Cage's 4'33 in how it frames the familiar and answers a question the poet asks: 'How to say this in the words that now are tired even of themselves?' Ridl reinvigorates the familiar through his fidelity to the people and objects in his life, by giving us the chance to feel ourselves inside the world from which his language springs. His art is to embed us in details that make his thoughts and feelings seem, if not ours, than essential. This is a full and lasting collection.
~Bob Hicok, Author of Insomnia Diary and Animal Soul
A sweet intelligence and compassionate eye are the hallmark of these wise poems-just the sort of art we need in these dark and unenlightened times.
~Richard Jones, Author of the Blessing: New and Selected Poems
Jack Ridl writes with complete generosity and full-hearted wisdom and care. His deeply intelligent, funny and gracious poems are packed with the music of genuine voices, woven with history, people and movement, the whole, delicious sweet fabric of days. They befriend a reader so completely and warmly we might all have the revelation that our lives are rich poems too. What a gift!
~Naomi Shihab Nye, Author of You &Amp; Yours, Fuel, and Red Suitcase
