Why Elephants No Longer Communicate in Greek

by Timons Esaias

“Timons Esaias is a prankster, a comedian, and a magician. But his sleight of hand, misdirection, jokes, and science fiction metaphors – entertaining as they are – are only camouflage disguising his deadly seriousness. His poetry urges us to face the truth before the world ends, and his tone is one of profound disappointment that most of us are not much interested in this urgent mission: ‘Just lie, and stick to it,/and physics,/responsibility, even fact, can take no hold.’ Esaias’ poems are funny, profound, and necessary.”

—Michael Simms, founder of Vox Populi and Autumn House Press

Genres: Poetry

170 pages, Paperback

Published January 11, 2016

Reviews

[Mary Soon Lee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Initial disclaimer: I know the author. That said, I like this poetry collection very much. I had naively planned to write comments about the poems that I particularly admired and liked, but, since I annotated over forty poems as especially fine, I shall have to be more discriminating. Cavalierly clumping poems into groups, there were six poems with a light frivolous flavor that I loved: "Hello," "Carnegie Library," "Nudge," "Poetry Defined," "Rubaiyat LXXI, Revised," and "Appropriate Salutaions." All excellently executed. There are science fiction poems and science poems, including "Checklist," "A Fire on Ganymede," and the beautiful "A Universe." There are many excellent romantic-relationship poems, with repeated themes of the narrator reflecting on his love being rejected or undervalued. My favorite of these was "For Love, This Cup," which is specific yet universal, tender, and haunting. Two other relationship poems, though not romantic relationship poems, also stood out to me: "But will they come when you do call for them?" which is about the narrator's parents, and "Photonic Relationships," which is about his brother. (At least, that is how the poems are presented, but they may be fictitious rather than autobiographical.) One poem with a clearly invented first-person narrator, "All the Important People #2," deals with ageing, and is tender and moving and among my favorites in the book. Many of the poems are clever; many exhibit the author's breadth of knowledge. Some, even though I may like them, remain at least partially cryptic to me, including the opening poem "All the Important People #5." (I find many poems cryptic, so this may reflect upon me rather than upon the poems.) Even though I found it somewhat cryptic, I loved the poem "At the Mountain Inn, Shaded by Broken Pines," and wished there were more in that voice or world. The endings of the poems are often wonderful, sometimes turning the poem in a new direction, for example the skillful and witty "Supplementary" shifts (for me) toward yearning in the closing two stanzas. There are two variants on the title poem, both of which I liked very much, but the second slightly the more, because of its final four-word stanza. Quite a few poems are pointed, and I particularly liked both the points being made and how that was achieved in "We Used To Have Faces" and "Famous Poet, Rant, Point of Order." A very fine collection.

[Reader in Upstate NY · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this book of poems straight through the first time a few days ago. My first impression was that I wanted more – more poems. On Thanksgiving Day, I found some quiet time to read them again, slowly, and enjoyed the extra time I spent with them. It’s surprising that so few people have reviewed this book. I’m adding my humble review here, hoping to encourage the author to publish another book. I tried to “follow” Esaias at Amazon, but there seems no way for me to do that. It’s difficult to choose which poem I liked the best. Esaias has so much fun with words and wrote poems on a wonderful variety of subjects. Many made me smile and found me shaking my head in appreciation. Some of my favorites: “All the Important People #2,” Supplementary,” “Checklist,” “Red Beans, Rice,” “New Labels on Old Jars,” “The Latest Literary Device,” Rubaiyat LXXI, Revised.” Alright, I enjoyed the entire book and didn’t want to place it back on my shelves because I’d love to read it yet again. I think I’ll leave it out in view.

[Lawrence · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely collection of everyday, plain-language poems, mostly witty wry observations and a few deeper delves.

The broken heart love poems are a bit maudlin but the odes to urban life and the small pleasures in the day are where it really shines.

[Scott Kent · Rating 5 out of 5]

A collection of poems displaying biting satire, brilliant insight and a splash of whimsy. Truly something that must be savored slowly and with thought.