In Almost Bluing For X-tra Whiteness, poet Tim Gager can take a so-called "ordinary moment" and peel it like an onion, revealing layers of meaning that seem both surprising and inevitable. He offers "Drops of rain, weeping into parking lot puddles," and "...a young driver nursing a butterfly trapped in tiny space between a cars headlight and grill." And he informs us that "We address to the sky our grief when writing letters to the deceased." This is a collection that makes you want to find a comfortable chair, grab a cup of tea, and settle in for a visit.
~ Charles Coe, Purgatory Road
Almost Bluing For X-tra Whiteness
I so love the places Timothy Gager brings me with his poetry. His latest collection, Almost Bluing For X-tra Whiteness, reads like a “discarded love poem, crackling.” Walking a post-Covid landscape of heart break, recovery, and grief, the poems palp “the back-and-forth, / that was a time, one day, / at a time, left-right-left-me-right /—here. We all know this landscape, where we insist, “Nobody likes you, you say / to them, but you are here too.” Sure, these days, life seems to be “leaving me as / the funnel cloud, / destroying everything. . .” and yet, Gager does not leave us here. The poet challenges addiction and loneliness, “More. / Bring it. / Some more.” Thank you, Tim, for the “bell of all harmonies,” for this “flash of: Can this be real? / Damn, it can be.” In Almost Bluing For X-tra Whiteness, Timothy Gager makes it all real.
~ Jennifer Martelli, Dear Justice and The Queen of Queens
The poems remind us that life can hit us hard. Some lines are so beautiful and impactful they leave you reeling in multiple directions. Recovery from addiction doesn’t guarantee a smooth path; Gager’s work explores this truth through personal loss, including the death of his father and the end of a relationship. Gager seeks redemption for past mistakes and navigates each day as it comes. As he reflects, “Atonement was not medicinal,/wavering, babbled,/delivered with pauses,/like a beast monitor is/the sounds of life ending.” Almost Bluing For X-tra Whiteness stands out as one of Gager’s finest collections, showcasing his remarkable ability to capture these raw, poignant experiences.
~ Gloria Mindock, Grief Touched the Sky at Night