“Jacob Salzer’s tanka in Metal & Rain reveal the deep resonance between the inner landscape of the human heart-mind and the outer landscape of mountains & rivers, forest & sea—and their many denizens. Making skillful use of emotionally resonant images, Salzer’s tanka probe the past, ponder the future, and examine perennial themes of family, love & loss, the nature of the self, and our place in the world: “among deep valleys / there is no me.” These deeply thoughtful poems offer no easy answers but invite readers to explore “another mystery / I don’t want / to solve.”

 

—Jenny Ward Angyal, award-winning tanka poet and author of Earthbound: Tanka-prose & Haibun, Only the Dance: Tanka Threads and Moonlight on Water: Tanka

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“Metal & Rain is an engaging collection of tanka that honours the cycles and seasons of life, not just in Nature, but in our own personal human journey. Change and transitions are a common thread throughout and speaks to an acceptance and peace with the unanswered questions we all have. Jacob gives mystery a seat of reverence, and through his poetry, an underlying message that we are never truly alone, that all one has to do is open one’s eyes to see beauty and divinity in moments of solitude, awe, curiosity, wonder, and silence. A beautiful collection.”

 

—Michelle Hyatt, co-author of Echoes: A Collection of Linked-Verse Poetry (Lulu, 2020) and Returning: Tanka Sequences (Lulu, 2022)

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“Metal & Rain is a vision of a life well-observed and deeply felt. Loosely centered around nature, love, and family, Salzer’s tanka weave a gossamer web that gives voice to the questions we all must ask and answer for ourselves. Why are we here? What are we leaving behind? Do we belong? These poems will simultaneously bring you peace and inspire you to think anew about your place in this fragile, beautiful world.”

 

—Aidan Castle

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A Book Review from Lulu.com:

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"METAL & RAIN is an intriguing title that pulls us into Jacob Salzer’s collection of tanka: his short poems written in the Japanese tradition of five lines. Blending nature into experienced moments of relationships, he offers profound glimpses of the turning seasons and change, both in the natural world and in our own inseparable humanity. I was very moved by the tanka Jacob shares in this book. His poems express a deep love for his family and a profound sensitivity to aging and death. One of my favorite poems in Salzer's book involves 'unfinished projects' in his father’s garage, as he breathes in 'the scent of metal and rain.' For anyone who enjoys concise lyrical poetry packed with emotion, I highly recommend this book."

 

—Diana Saltoon, author of My Sister Meda: A Memoir of Old Singapore (2023), Wife Just Let Go: Zen, Alzheimer's and Love, with Robert Briggs (2017), Tea and Ceremony (2004), The Common Book of Consciousness (1990), and Four Hands: Green Gulch Poems (1987)

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