My Wife Made This Possible (Paperback or Softback)

The blurb writer struggled to write another blurb, he felt one more might break him, then he began to read these Jacob Chapman poems…. —Michael Earl Craig

His two previous books are Here Over Here Over Here - Are We There Yet

Here Over Here Over Here is a true joy to read. The calm, clear voice is funny and smart and kind, a great companion, just the sort of friend who points out or does the unexpected, in a way that turns out to be unexpectedly illuminating. And maybe a bit dangerous in a necessary way. The poems search out and name, with care and great attention and equally great generosity, those strange moments and feelings that we forget are there. But we need to remember. Imagine you are dead and let the children pile rocks on your body and pretend they are gems. Then go home and turn out the lights. “Whatever happens next/ is up to you.” –Matthew Zapruder, author of Father’s Day and Why Poetry

The poems in Jacob Chapman’s Are We There Yet with verve explore the paradoxical world we live in. Familiar landscapes made brilliantly unfamiliar. Unfamiliar people made meaningfully familiar. To be with these poems is to open oneself up to the great depths of feeling and thinking that a substantive engagement with paradox can reveal. The poems in Are We There Yet point to something vital and expansive about the strangeness we live in – “So thanks for the triangles./I didn’t know what to do with them/ at first, but now I do.” These poems are patient and playful. They are perceptive and poignant. Read these poems and then read them again. —Emily Pettit, author of Goat in the Snow and Blue Flame