When Godot Arrived

“Confront personal losses as well as the numerous harbingers of environmental collapse, from birds to beavers to beetles along Red River or beside Lake Marie, eddies and currents evoking social, economic, and political conflicts beyond the trails hiked in many of these poems.” ––James Scruton, author of The Rules  When Godot Arrived uses eighty free-verse sonnets to explore the intersections of family, environment, politics, and the human condition, balancing contemplative reflection with dark humor and lyrical precision in a world of uncertainty.  In his latest collection of eighty free-verse sonnets, When Godot Arrived, Jim Tilley continues the explorations from the set of new poems in his previous book, Ripples in the Fabric of the Universe, and serves as an extension of that work. As usual, he draws on his experience as a poet and mathematician to fix a lens on the current raw state of the country and the world and on interpersonal relationships. At times, his mood is merely contemplative, especially in his testaments to family, but as he delves relentlessly into matters political, ecological, and environmental, that mood turns darker, even ominous, infused occasionally with humor to present a more optimistic outlook. It is a most expansive read.