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