Forever the Last Time

Forever the Last Time, the second book of poetry by Jim Slominski, chronicles the lives affected by the illness of the poet's oldest child, Jake. At the time of writing the child is 11 years old, and is not expected to live beyond the age of 20. With a depth of feeling that is awe-inspiring, and using an unabashedly rural setting, Slominski writes of family and work, centering his poems in and around the home. The stress that the shadow of the child's impending death puts on the family is devastating, an effect which the author imparts to the reader in totally believable, personal lyrics. Yet, the every-day life of the family goes forward, and the poet celebrates both the grief and joy in each day, in spite of the knowledge that the last time is forever hovering.

Jim Slominski's poems won second place in the CBC Literary Awards in 2002, and his work has appeared in a number of anthologies and periodicals. His first collection of poetry The Wind is a Tall Man Striding, was published in 2000. Born in Montreal, he now lives in Niagara-on-the-Lake with his wife Mary and his two children Jake and Maya. A plantsman/ nurseryman by trade the author's intimacy with the effects of the seasons, and the forces of nature play a large role in his poems. Forever the Last Time is his second collection.