Jerred Metz’s Jackdaw is myth, trickster, and id. He is in history and beyond history, a riddler and a riddle, redeemer and unrepentant thief. If you argue with him, you “invite him to do / something you / will regret.” So don’t argue. Read “The Jackdaw Catechism” (my favorite poem in the book): “Who invited poetry? Jackdaw.” Jackdaw leaves no mark beyond “what dwells / in your memory.” There is much that darkens and delights my memory after reading this fantastic book.
Ed Madden
Author of Ark and Nest, Poet Laureate, City of Columbia, SC
82 words
In Jackdaw: A Phantasmagoria Jerred Metz created a character we follow poem after poem from his birth to death. Jackdaw, cousin to crow and raven, is a rogue, scoundrel, trickster, riddler. The bird is loud, rambunctious. He’s a court jester, funny, but not funny, an arrogant cutthroat. He doesn’t walk, he struts. Jackdaw’s story draws its ideas from the bible, mythology, historical and imaginary, and the poet’s fertile imagination. The riddles my favorite part. I smiled and laughed reading the poems. Wonderful artwork from Steve Chapp became the source for several of the poems. Easy to read and enjoy in one sitting.
Jane Ellen Ibur, Both Wings Flappin’, Still Not Flyin’ and The Little Mrs./Misses
St. Louis, MO Poet Laureate
