Rob Jacques

Rob Jacques was raised in northern New England, graduating with a B.S. in English from Salem State University and earning an M.S.T. from the University of New Hampshire. He served as an officer in the U. S. Navy during the Vietnam Era, and he has taught literature courses at Northern Virginia Community College, Olympic College, and the United States Naval Academy. His poetry appears in numerous regional and national journals. "War Poet," published by Sibling Rivalry Press in 2017, is a collection of his poems related to his experiences while on active duty in the U. S. Navy. "Adagio for Su Tung-p'o," published by Fernwood Press in 2019, explores through poems how the ancient Chinese poets viewed consciousness and its relation to space and time. His third collection, "Dust and Dragons," also published by Fernwood Press, explores the ancient Chinese concept of how human superficial activities are suddenly jolted by events beyond human control. Having completed a civilian career as a technical editor/writer for the U. S. Navy and the U. S. Department of Energy, Jacques lives a reclusive life on a rural island in Washington State’s Puget Sound. Strongly influenced by the works of Emily Dickinson, Robert Frost and James Merrill, his poems explore metaphysical aspects of life and love as well as paradoxes that arise between the differing goals and desires of flesh and consciousness.