Graduating From Eternity
by John Goode

"Relentlessly, the images come to do what they have to do. At once, full of compassion without the pitiful face, then furious without commonplace madness. This work sits in front of and behind and to the side of itself, watching. This is not an easy task. To call it human underestimates it. Graduating from Eternity forces me to believe God happens, not God is."

--Collin Bunting

"Cross a waterfall with a cave, and you get the poetry of John Goode. His poems occupy a turbulent landscape, ghosted with shadows, full of movement. They are dangerous, craggy, sensuous, and vulnerable. The cascade of his surreal images and wild juxtapositions are disorienting in the best possible way. They might carry you over the edge."

--Nina Corwin, author of The Uncertainty of Maps

"Somewhere between post modernism and mystic realism is the poetry of John Goode. His rapid fire similes weave neon tapestries of urban social decay and heartbreak covering a dark wit and social commentary. One of the best of a new generation."

--David Hargarten, publisher Exact Change Only

"The caliber of John Goode's poems and images are so consistently high that not one stands out as the definition. This poet measures essences of truths, heavy, gritty and immense. Distinctly animal. Effortlessly male. The very blood of art graces these pages. Rampant, beautiful, and aware."

--Dana Jerman

Excerpt:
The Living City

The Possessed

Cleopatra in Traffic