The Shield of Hector To pay by check please use this order form. We are pleased to take orders from retailers. Email us with details about your order or call us at 207-837-5760. Poet J. R. Solonche adds The Shield of Hector to his impressive list of over forty published poetry collections. Of Solonche's poems, poet Sarah White wrote “Sample one by one these epigrammatic, epiphenomenal, Epicurean episodes as if they were puffs from a tower of pastry. Savor the zest of lemon, the pinch of sea salt, the dollop of crème fraiche, and the absence of any more sugar than necessary to ease the ingestion of truth. A feast for fanatics of language and lovers of pith.” POETRY / General ISBN: 978-1-971191-40-9 (print; softcover; perfect bound) Released October 20, 2026 | Copyright 2026 106 pages |
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Nominated for the Eric Hoffer Book Award, twice for the National Book Award and four times for the Pulitzer Prize, J. R. Solonche is the author of more than fifty books of poetry and coauthor of another. He lives in the Hudson Valley. |
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“Solonche is productive and prolific, but that doesn’t water down his poetry . . . He can compress a philosophical treatise into three lines . . . His epigrammatic tidy poems are philosophic gems. Solonche sees humor and encapsulates it; he frames a thought in perfect verse . . . He’s playful and profound—the more he writes, the more he seems to know. Beneath the Solonche simplicity are significant social comments, and his goodwill reinforces the best in us.” “These short poems are an extraordinary amalgam of wit, close observation, humor, and clear-seeing. Each one singles out and illuminates an ordinary moment—ordinary, that is, until the poet explodes into a miniature epiphany. Easy of access and frequently profound, J. R. Solonche’s poems induce in me a state of delighted surprise.” “Solonche, an accomplished poet, employs various forms in this compilation, including haiku, prose poem, and free verse. The poems often imaginatively enter into the natural or material world via anthropomorphic similes . . . Many works have an aphoristic quality that recall Zen koans, and they can be playfully amusing or even silly . . . A strong set of sympathetic but never sentimental observations.” |
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News and Reviews Watch or listen to this wonderful video featuring J.R. Solonche. He reads some of his poems, and his general comments on poetry are so worth hearing. Hosted by Rattle Poetry. Amanda Holmes Duffy, Review, Washington Independent Review of Books (November 16, 2023) |
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