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Honky Tonk / David Jibson

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I wrote Honky-Tonk, which originally appeared in Fried Chicken and Coffee, with a particular road house in mind. Its name came from the fact that its distance from each of three small towns in rural Michigan was seven miles and it was owned for a period of time by my mother. The poem is now included in Protective Coloration (Kelsay Books, 2020). It’s available from Kelsay and from Amazon.

Four Sijo / David Jibson

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This cycle of seasonal Sijo poems was first published by The Bamboo Hut and is now part of the collection, Protective Coloration (2020, Kelsay Books). It’s also available from Amazon.com.

Sijo is a Korean form comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, Contemporary Sijo are often printed in six lines.

Siren Song

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jibson_frontSiren Song is obviously a small town poem. Over the years I’ve taken inspiration from my early experiences and observations from the little town in which I grew up. This poem begins with one small town memory then takes off on a flight of childhood fantasy. This is one poem from the collection, Protective Coloration, now on sale from Kelsay Books and at Amazon.com.

What They Left Behind

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This poem first appeared in the Waccamaw Journal from Coastal Carolina University and is now is included in my collection: Protective Coloration from Kelsay Books. It can also be purchased from Amazon.

If you’ve ever moved into a house after a previous owner or tenant, you may have had an experience like the one in this “list” poem, little clues left behind that tell you something about the people who lived there.

A free sampling from this book is available at davidkjibson.com.

Meet Augie and Wanda

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Augie and Wanda are two principal characters from my chapbook, Michigan Gothic. As death comes to Augie, it parallels the death of the American family farm and a culture that once helped to define who we are. This chapbook tells the story of Augie and his family through a series of twenty free-verse poems.  Available for $6.00 from Amazon.com. Better yet, read it for free at my website.

Protective Coloration

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Protective Coloration is the author’s latest release from Kelsay Books.  It’s available from Kelsay or from Amazon.com. You can open a sample in PDF format by clicking on the cover photo.

jibson_front

In this splendid collection of engaging and unmistakably American poems, David Jibson manages to find beauty in utterly unexpected places: piled up on a back shelf at the Salvation Army Store, for example, or strung along the bedraggled length of the Ohio Turnpike—or perhaps in the lovely, tentative dance of a blind woman learning to walk with a white cane. Along with a faint echo of Ted Kooser or Billy Collins at their conversational best, you’ll be captivated by Jibson’s own irresistible voice: that of a witty, insightful observer of the astonishments that surround us.

Marilyn L. Taylor,
Wisconsin Poet Laureate, Emerita

To read David Jibson’s poems is like leafing through a pile of photos of your life and suddenly rediscovering feelings and events you had forgotten or never knew. Each snapshot is replete with carefully selected images organized to create unity and fulfillment. His poems range from trivia to exotic, from people we recognize to those we would like to meet. Topics include science, religion, philosophy, history, music, art, and (the requisite for all good poetry) basic old-fashioned entertainment.

Lawrence W. Thomas,
Founding Editor, Third Wednesday Magazine
Honorary Chancellor, Poetry Society of Michigan