Deep Pockets

Praise for DEEP POCKETS Early on in this fine collection, an old dog "plunges her snout deep in the sloppy pocket / of the sensual present." So it is that the deep pockets of Daniel Thomas are tongued and explored again and again in generous poems of love and of longing, of grief and of guilt. Thomas brings a precision of line and a vulnerability of feeling to convince us, finally, that "heaven / and despair touch like dew and fog." These are poems to keep and to ponder as we seek--each one of us--our own ways forward into this world. --Paul J. Willis, author of Getting to Gardisky Lake Like the snow that falls through so many of his poems, Daniel Thomas's words create shapes that outline the essential form of the things we love: the beauty of nature, the bonds of familial love, the mystery of being alive. Incantatory cadences and wordplay harness our attention and leave us vulnerable, open to revelations about the things we once knew and had forgotten. This is a collection to savor and dwell within. --Gregory Wolfe, Editor, Image

About the Author :
Daniel Thomas was born and raised in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He has published poems in many journals, including Southern Poetry Review, Nimrod, Poetry Ireland Review, The Bitter Oleander, Atlanta Review, and many others. He has an MFA in poetry from Seattle Pacific University. As an undergraduate at the University of Minnesota, he studied music, English literature and German literature. He then went on to study film history, theory and criticism at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and graduated with an MA. His graduate degree in film led him to Twin Cities Public Television, where he was the video editor of an Emmy Award- winning national PBS series and producer of local documentaries. He went on to become COO of the PBS station. His long career in nonprofit management includes work as an executive director and a chief development officer. In addition to writing poetry, he plays the guitar and writes music. For six years he served as vice-chair of the American Composers Forum. Dan is the father of three grown children. He and his wife, Ellie, moved to Santa Barbara, California in 2015.

Review :
Deep Pocketsis a profound meditation on human relationship, organically integrating classical literary influences from Dostoevsky to Dante. "My charts and compass lead me inward," Daniel Thomas says in one poem; this interior search half-paradoxically leads to what he calls in another poem "the soul's mystery in the material world." As in the book's ambitious centerpiece, "Three Women," these elegant, meticulously crafted poems map the cardinal points of a generously rewarding world Thomas invites his readers to share and explore. --Thomas R. Smith, author of The Foot of the Rainbow andThe Glory In Deep Pockets, Daniel Thomas carefully unpacks a heart's journey of decades. He does not hurry through; his eloquence is spelled by moments of speechlessness, a respect for the untellable. Yet, a story gets told, mysteries intact, concerning shades of love; longing in a marriage that endures; children who "...even in the quietest room / ...listen to him with all their being / and one ear closed." A beloved son goes to war; parents grow old and slip away; he cuts himself adrift at middle age, to his own surprise, and ventures "from known to unknown." He travels, carrying with him the classics, invoking gods, fools and wanderers who made the journey before him. Like them, he seeks in the nether realms and questions God. Thomas's poems carry the wisdom and grace of the Old World, exploring matters of faith and conscience in an age where tenets have lost their purchase. But the real gold to be mined from this volume lies in the poet's deep connection to--and unusual tenderness for--his father, whose grand presence and unthinkable absence bind the book together. Take Deep Pockets with you, let it be the book you save from fire, read it on your journey. --Enid Osborn, author of When The Big Wind Comes and Poet Laureate of Santa Barbara, California 2017-2019