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THIS IS NOT A REVIEW!

A couple of days ago, I ordered and received a copy of John Irving’s A Prayer for Owen Meany (see, do you see what I did up there?) I’ve been a fan of his writing for years, but for whatever reason, I put the books down. I recently saw a blog or blip or blurb that referenced A Prayer, and remembered it was on my list of next reads many years ago.

I was about to pick up this chunky 627-page book. When I got a Facebook message from another John, John Yamrus. He was congratulating me and Nolcha Fox on our collaboration. Remember, the quirky little book, Seesaw? Yes, this one , Ken Tomaro.

He said if I was curious and considered doing a blog post on one of his books, he’d send me a file. The book is DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER: JUST GIVE HIM A GOOD PLACE TO HIDE

My knowledge of poets, old or new, is very small, but I recognized his name, having seen some of his work on Chewers by Masticadores, Chewers by Masticadores – Editor: Nolcha Fox// Director of Masticadores: J Re Crivello (edited by Nolcha Fox), and elsewhere. I told him I thought my book reviewing skills basically sucked. I don’t use big, profound words to describe someone else’s writing. I don’t know any! If I like it, I say I like it. He appreciated that statement and asked to say what I feel, as if I were talking to him, not a review, so John, here is my non-review and simply some ramblings about your work. 

From what I’ve already read, I was instantly hooked, the same as when I discovered Bukowski. I have made the comment many times that for poetry to appeal to me, it should do two seemingly simple things.

1. Make sense
2. Tell some kind of story

His work hit both of those immediately. It has been described as minimalist, and this is certainly true. Short poems. Simple words. Gritty. Real. Relatable poetry that makes sense. Something else I’ve said more than once is, when people sit down to read poetry, flash, novels, etc., they do so because they want to be entertained. They want to experience another world or a piece of someone else’s life. What they don’t want is to be confused, annoyed or say to themselves, “What the fuck did I just read?’ This, strictly my BS opinion, is one of the many reasons people don’t read poetry. So here is an example of the simplicity and how poetry should be written.

SHE

came
from nowhere

and
went back
to the same place.

in between, there was that one summer…
the one

he hoped
would never end.

This is as simple as it gets. It makes sense. It tells an entire story in less than 10 lines. And the third thing, so yeah, makes sense, tells a story and (no one expects the Spanish Inquisition) YOU, dear reader, have to do some of the work. Do I know all the details of this possibly sordid, steamy love story of the ages? No, and I’m ok with that because I have a brain and my brain is capable of conjuring up details and images to fill in the blanks. If you, as a reader, want everything handed to you, well, that’s just lazy and kind of defeats the purpose of picking up a book, doesn’t it? 

These few simple words with little detail are to me what makes great poetry. He does it well. It doesn’t have to be academic. It doesn’t have to be surreal, wordy, pompous, or long-winded. All it has to do is make sense and tell a story.

Another thing about John’s work is how extremely relatable it is to me. He has stood reading his poetry to a small room of uninterested people, and I have sat on a folding chair in an alley watching uninterested people pass by. Some of his work was ironically rejected by magazines (you’ll have to pick up a copy of his book to see that poem), and I have been rejected by a magazine that took rejected poetry, or in my case, did not.

 Look, I get it. Everyone has their own taste in poetry. All I’m saying is there are plenty of poets, John Yamrus being at the top of the list, in the here and now, worth reading, and it makes a gloomy Saturday in Cleveland, Ohio, worth getting out of bed for. I wish I could have come up with these (simple) words to describe his work, but he said it best and quite perfectly, to be honest:

That’s all these poems are. Glimpses. Snapshots.
Moments. Some are nice. Some are not.
At the end of the day, they are what they are, and
there’s just no going back.

I could have given you more examples of his poetry. That’s what a taste is, though, a tiny sample that either leaves you wanting more, or it doesn’t, but you owe it to yourself to look him up. This, again, is where you have to do some of the work. Type the name John Yamrus into Google and see what comes up: a career spanning decades, and at least 41 books to choose from.

I’ll help you out…go here:

PAPERBACK ONLY

Ok, ok, I’ll give you one more if your whistle isn’t wet enough:

I DON’T SEE

any
more
great poems
happening anywhere.

the last
(great one)
was probably
Bukowski’s Bluebird

and
before that,
several by Ginsberg.

and
when i say great,
i mean life-altering, world-changing,

and
that’s just not
gonna happen anymore,

and
that’s good.

that’s
as it should be.

right now,
the only great
poem left to be written

is
the one about me,
taking my car to the shop

for

a new

set of tires

Copyright © 2025 Ken Tomaro

Author Biographies

Ken Tomaro

Never until recently did Ken Tomaro consider writing poetry. Not when he slid from the womb. Not when he felt the first tingle of teen hormones. Not after he got married, divorced, moved to another city, lost a couple of jobs, and moved back. It just sort of happened. Ken Tomaro, self-proclaimed poet laureate of the Cleveland sewer system, has been writing poetry for a few short years. He’s not famous, rich, recognized, or read in schools across America. He has been published in several literary journals, done a couple podcasts, started the YouTube channel, Screaming Down the Poetic Highway, and that’s pretty damn impressive.

John Yamrus

John Yamrus is widely recognized as master of minimalism and the neo-noir in modern poetry. In a career spanning more than 50 years as a working writer, he has had more than 3,500 poems published in books, magazines and anthologies around the world. His writing is often taught in college and university courses. Three of his more than 40 books have been published in translation.  His two newest books are DON’T SHOOT THE MESSENGER: JUST GIVE HIM A GOOD PLACE TO HIDE and CAPTAIN BEEFHEART NEVER LICKED MY DECALS OFF.