Garden of Clouds

Poetry. GARDEN OF CLOUDS: NEW AND SELECTED POEMS by Peter Thabit Jones includes poems about a childhood in Eastside Swansea, favorite poets (such as Rilke, Edward Thomas, R. S. Thomas and Dylan Thomas), Elvis lookalikes, human conflict, personal loss and grief, trips to the Mojave Desert and Grand Canyon, and a selection of poems about Big Sur, California, where Peter has resided annually for two months as a writer-in-residence since 2010. In this fine collection by Peter Thabit Jones, the reader is taken on a journey of stones, precious stones, set in pebbled sequence from the depths of the mythic and real labyrinth of loss to the ultimate breakout of sunrays guiding the way to a garden of clouds filled with children happily playing. Each poem is like a gem that glistens in the reader's mind, inspiring and mystifying. Joy is the ultimate outcome.

About the Author :
Peter Thabit Jones was born in Wales and raised by his maternal grandparents. He is the author of fourteen books including: GARDEN OF THE CLOUDS (2020), AMERICA, AERONWY, AND ME (2019), THE FIRE IN THE WOOD (2017), THE COLOUR OF SAYING (2014), DYLAN THOMAS WALKING TOUR OF GREENWICH VILLAGE (2014) with Aeronwy Thomas, POEMS FROM A CABIN ON BIG SUR (2011), and THE LIZARD CATCHERS (2006), all published by Cross-Cultural Communications. His work has been translated into over twenty languages. In March 2008, Peter's American publisher, Stanley H. Barkan, organized a six-week poetry reading tour for Peter and Dylan Thomas's daughter, Aeronwy. The pair gave readings and workshops from New York to California. He was invited to Serbia in 2006 by the Serbian Writers Association to participate in the 43rd International Meeting of Writers in Belgrade. He was visiting poet in Romania in 2008 and 2009, where he carried out readings and poetry workshops at colleges and universities. He resided at Big Sur, California, in the summer of 2010 as writer-in-residence, returning again for summer residencies each year from 2011 to 2018. Peter is the Founder and Editor of The Seventh Quarry Swansea Poetry Magazine, which publishes poetry, translations, interviews, and articles from around the world, and the accompanying The Seventh Quarry Press, which publishes international books of poetry, prose, and art. His poem Kilvey Hill has been incorporated into a permanent stained-glass window at Saint Thomas Community School in Swansea. In April 2014, he was inducted into the Phi Sigma Iota Society at Salem State University, for his contribution to literature and literary translations. He is the recipient of the Eric Gregory Award for Poetry, The Society of Authors Award, The Royal Literary Fund Award, an Arts Council of Wales Award, the Ted Slade Award for Service to Poetry in 2016 by The Poetry Kit, the Shabdaguchha Poetry Award 2017, and the 2017 Homer: European Medal for Art and Poetry.