Customer Reviews

5 reviews

• MaryLou Armstrong-Peters

  When one has the book of Joseph Roccasalvo's poems, IT COMES IN TIDES, one can enjoy the full breadth and depth of his poetic genius

• Jane Merrill, Research Author & Freelance Writer

  The reason this collection should be a book is that a reader like me wants to delight in the poems again and again. I love your poetry. Nearly every poem feels priceless.“ Dilemma,” and “Ensemble” are my last two jolts from your collection. Having the book is practical. I can take one poem to heart, put aside the collection, and then take it up on the morrow. It feels as though reading the poems will make a difference in my life. It takes much to ask for therapy of poetry, but the shimmer of your words and thoughts creates the illusion. Keep writing the unexpected for which thinking people thirst. You pack volumes into everything you write. I don't like to overpraise, but in writing poetry you have moved towards a creative center that is yours alone. The poems are matchless. They have a sort of lagniappe, French for an extra meaning you tuck into the clarity. They stop me in my tracks. Maybe it's because you are giving away your "secret" knowledge of life. They are more beautiful, realistic, and wise yet ethereal and jewel-like--those that reach the highest level of poetry where readers cannot do without them.

• Barbara DeCoursey Roy, Psychotherapist & Writer

  Thank you for the gift of these beautiful poems. I think “Comfort Zone” is your best yet: A finely tuned marriage of meter and rhyme, sustained metaphor throughout, and a tone both soft and ironic. The last line really sings: “The finite immortality of art.” It's a line worthy of Emily Dickinson. “Liquid Gold” nails the hope of finding meaning in the aging body. ". . . dessert wine is prompted by noble rot” is brilliant. That is the challenge: to find the beauty that comes from the inevitable shriveling and pruning. Your parallel to art is an apt one—it’s the pruning of a poem that lets it shine. As in art, so in life. The poems on friendship and the waxing and waning of love reveal a generous and romantic soul. I love seeing them collected and echoing their themes of love and loss. Your poems are a “keepsake,” and I will keep them in my heart for the sake of friendship, for the love of art.

• Audrey Marutollo, Retired Primary School Teacher

  What a thought-provoking, reflective, absorbing collection of poems. I took my time reading them only to realize how connected they were. They are perfect for pondering in my life of retirement, especially Emperor Hadrian’s full last speech. What are my favorites, you might ask? They change on every rereading. Today it’s “Polyglot Buddhism,” “Dilemma,” and “A Four Room Suite.” Your Jeux d’Esprit was an additional pleasure. “At a Loss” was shocking and I laughed out loud at “Longevity.” Thank you, thank you for another Roccasalvo gem to add to my collection of books to read and reread.

• Sr. Teresa Fitzgerald, C.S.J.

  Joseph, you would be happy to know that I gave three friends a copy of your book of poems for Valentine day. I read and pondered and laughed at ONE A DAY just like vitamins.

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