I’m happy to share a book recommendation for the recently released book of poetry by Connecticut based poet Jeff Schwartz, whose book Small Talk (Finishing Line Press, 2025) was released in August and is available at Bookshop.org on the Jewish Poets Collective Affiliate page.
In this collection Schwartz confronts topics such as death, old age, the horrors of the COVID pandemic, and the shock of terrible accidents that inject themselves among the routine days of our lives.The poet’s deep understanding of how the mundane and the shocking intermingle in our lives is to me the one of the strengths of this collection.
For readers searching for a poetry written by one who shares common ground of our COVID experiences, or the loss of a parent, this is a book that will resonate and even provide a sense of comfort, as only one who writes in such an honest and profound manner about these painful experiences can provide. To be clear, these are not poems of despair. There is love and hope interwoven throughout the book, and even the fanciful, as when Ulysses returns home in Ulysses Returns to the Suburbs where the Greek hero
had let loose with the guys
in the wilds of Canada
Schwartz’s poem, Postcard from the Coast, included in this collection, can be read in the first issue of The Jewish Poets Collective Journal. Follow the link to the poem. As noted, his book can be purchased at bookshop.org.
Jeffrey Schwartz grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, attended universities in Boston and Pittsburgh, and settled in Connecticut where he has taught English for many years. His first collection was published by Alice James Books and more recent poems have appeared in Hanging Loose, Pedestal Magazine, Naugatuck River Review, the Berru Poetry Series sponsored by the Jewish Book Council, and elsewhere. Picture Houses, a hand-stitched, limited edition of poems about film, was published in 2018. He has also written for books and journals on student-centered learning, including his co-edited Students Teaching, Teachers Learning.
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