Poetry is
not all about gloom and doom; mostly, it is about the beauty of our language in
an expression of reflection, life and yes, loss, but also about celebration and
– as here in Jim Bennett’s case – a
bit of tongue-in-cheek as well regarding his moniker image.
Of course, I asked him what it
meant and I am embarrassed that I didn't guess. He kindly elaborated for me:
“There is
a place in Up the Organization where Townsend says, what would a Martian make
of this problem, understanding everything about life on earth except anything
related to this problem? Explain it to this Martian, please? Since I was
Application Architect, I asked 'the Martian question' often. So, as a joke, I
had a globe of Mars on my desk, with the ambiguous figure 'Mowgli' looking at
it.”
* * *
Putting
on his serious poet’s hat, Bennett explains: “Poetry is about experience, and
has the power to transmit that experience to readers; what it means to be alive
and mortal.”
Here are the published volumes of
Jim Bennett’s evocative poetry:
Cold Comes Through
Life is
about loss. In the end, we all die. Yet we may face illness and reduced
capacity, expected and unexpected, with fear or courage, faith or despair.
These fifty poems are about that experience....
Behind the Lime Kiln
This
collection is about relationships. These poems were written for human beings
living in today's world, that is, for us, and thus for you.
Hard Landing
Fifty-seven
unique, sometimes scary, experiences. This selection of poems is not for
children, nor is it for squeamish adults. The collection probes unique personal
problems of different lives in difficult situations.
The Scroll of the Violin
These
poems cover a range of philosophy, religion, belief and unbelief: religious
poems, atheist poems, questioning poems, and answering ones.
Jim Bennett
not only writes poetry, he also leads workshops and participates in a regular
writers’ group.
He is also a prolific and conscientious reader and critiquer for the Kindle Book Review (KBR). So far, he has done 48 formal KBR reviews, and some 14 informal reviews.
*
But before
you rush off and send him your novels, let me tell you from experience that he
is tough, honest, and very stingy with his five stars. And rightly so. We’ll
never get better by being gushed over and coddled (sigh), but by receiving
constructive critiques.
*
Jim
Bennett began his publishing career in such literary magazines as The Fiddlehead, Event, The New Quarterly,
and Prairie Fire.
He started
writing poetry in high school. Mentored by an English teacher, and rekindled
years later by Richard Ketchum of Humber College, Jim began creating and never
looked back.
With a
Masters Degree in Pure Mathematics, he became a programmer, designer, and
eventually application architect. You’d expect Jim to be technical rather than
poetic. But suspecting poets rarely get
rich by their work; hence he remained in this field to fund his family and his
other interests.
Jim also
takes pictures; all the images on his website are his, as are the cover images
on his last two collections of poetry. He keeps tropical fish.
Jim
Bennett’s poetry books can be found at Amazon
Print
versions are available from the Lulu Store in paperback and as e-pubs:
I urge
you to visit Jim Bennett’s website where you will find some great images and
also a few interesting observations about life in today’s Canada.
Lastly, thank you Jim, for giving
us a glimpse of the man behind the poet.
