On Driftwood and Oblivion

In this second collection, J. S. Campbell's poems are of one beginning the journey of transition while facing isolation, detachment, and the longing for meaning. The poems travel time and space, from modern and ancient wars in the Middle East, to the declining natural world, from struggles in the LGBTQ and Transgender communities, to the American west, and the systematic atrocities committed against Native Americans. These are stories of life, death, and an earth in crisis, but they also remain personal, human, and at times, autobiographical. Which are which? That may be an unanswerable question, but the journey is thought provoking along the way. The words flow simply, yet the themes are complex and, while each poem may have a direction, there are always shifting undercurrents, refusing to fully surface. Enjoy the ride.
From the judges of the Writer's Digest Self-Published Book Awards - The poems are dense with imagery, thought, and allusions to literature and music. Campbell shows skill with selecting specific, evocative moments from life, and there are strokes of genius in the lines like "Stress fractures the calm of night," which pulls the word "fracture" in two directions - forcing it to assume the role of both noun and verb at once. Especially notable in the subject matter is a propensity to depict the "gritty" details and contrast them with the perseverance of beauty, as in the line "There is a butterfly / outside the dingy window." The collection is filled with strong insights and shows the clear work of a skillful writer.