What the readers are saying...
Please arrest and incarcerate any thought that you might simply sit and read through Chris’ poetry. This work needs to be approached as an immersive experience, bringing with you all that you carry – your baggage, your inquiring mind, your loving heart, your wandering soul. If the reader is willing to embark, these poems are a voyage of discovery, with your very being, your soul the undiscovered country. While conjuring images of the beauty of nature, the gaze is subtly but purposefully turned to witness the same divine beauty dwelling within. The transference from outward to inward beauty can be serene, but can also be raw and honest and transformative, bringing into question all that you brought on this journey: revealing that which can be cast off and that which is essential. This is the ebb and flow of nature and of the human soul – at the place where the two worlds meet. These are poems of awareness. These are poems of awakening.
This work needs to be approached as an immersive experience, bringing with you all that you carry – your baggage, your inquiring mind, your loving heart, your wandering soul. If the reader is willing to embark, these poems are a voyage of discovery, with your very being, your soul the undiscovered country.
This is the ebb and flow of nature and of the human soul – at the place where the two worlds meet. These are poems of awareness. These are poems of awakening.
Like any good art, poetry allows you to understand yourself a little better. Christopher Jones holds up a mirror for you in "The Nature of Humans: Personal Growth through Poetry," which allows you to take a good look at yourself and take it all in. It's not always without painful clarity, but Chris's words are full of beauty and truth. I'd highly recommend reading "The Nature of Humans." It's a beautiful book to have on hand for a quiet moment, to spark some self-reflection, and to enjoy some lovely poetry from a very talented poet. |
You will love this book. I read it over a weekend and found it inspirational, thought provoking, and relational. You would not think that a book of poems could blend together into a spiritual journey but that is exactly what the Author does. Chris is a rare talent. Five stars and worth more. |
A wonderful collection of poetry? Indeed. And well beyond the words, these poems have been written with such authenticity and vulnerability, with such insight and revelation, with such reverence for our inner human and nature's outward beauty... beyond food for the mind, the open heart and searching soul will be transported by this work. These poems are an invitation to a voyage: to venture courageously across that bridge between your inner self and the world you inhabit. |
The Nature of Humans proved to be an absolutely delightful read on a quiet afternoon. The invitation was made by the author, and I am very glad I walked with him. The poet’s heart and soul were evident in abundance, compelling this reader to continue his journey from beginning to end. An easy read, this book will be revisited, rain or shine. |
I received this as a gift from my wife. I must say the depth of some poems ring true to one's heart. To read the words of one Author and to be able to relate to some on an emotional level. |
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A wonderful work with penetrating insight, honesty and beauty
In the introduction to his triptych collection Jones writes “We can shift to being witness to our thoughts from identifying ourselves as our thoughts.” It is this description of journey, the profound shift of state of mind that permeates his poetry. I have commented below on the poems that particularly caught my eye and ear. To pick just a few was a challenging task.
Do we ever cease to learn about ourselves? Perhaps some do, but certainly Mr. Jones is not one of them. His poems in Part One of the collection (Letting Myself Go) ask many questions about what it is to be self, and what it is to aspire, to be at peace, improving, understanding, growing. In poems like Critical and My Own Prison he shines introspective light down the darker hallways of self- knowledge, places that many of us tend to avoid. To the writer this makes his poems deeply personal and honest, and therefore universal.
In Endless Chatter he defines the conflict between the workaday duties pulling us away from self-understanding the constant distractions ‘the industrious addiction feels like chattering across cobblestone.’
Jones captures the essence of stilling the mind beautifully in the poem Mind the Gap, with the haunting last lines ‘that all I am is a single heartbeat- an intake of breath.’
In Part Two – Humanity, the poem ‘Look’ evokes the struggle of self-reflection and self- avoidance. With just a few well-chosen words, it strikes to the heart of the paradox and reverberates long after the words themselves have been read.
Jones puts his poetic finger on the unsettling feeling of looking at our screens for something more important, when the beauty of the world offers itself lovingly as we ‘disguise ourselves in firm opinion.’
The paralysis of depression is captured in Down; insightful, honest, and striking work, both in language and format. We are on the journey with the writer. Many of us have felt the drag of that familiar current in our lives at one point or another. Jones captures it with empathy and pathos.
The simple beauty of the poem ‘Holding Your Hand’ – the secret held between two people in and through love, captivates the reader with intimate emotion.
In Part three (Nature), Jones’s word pictures take us to the wild shoreline of the Oregon Shore where ‘sneaky beaches lie in crabby coves littered with whalebone driftwood.’ In Ocean Ebb the poet pays homage to the sea, capturing man’s struggle and the toll he takes on her ‘There is no helm for men despite our worthy vessels and arrogance of craft.’ The poem beautifully crystalizes both the tempest and the calm when, ‘she patiently inhales the next tide.
Clarion Book Review
Even and moving, the poems collected in The Nature of Humans acknowledge people’s shortcomings, but also
celebrate their potential for growth. Functioning like exercises in self-reflection and personal evolution, the entries of Christopher Jones’s poetry collection The Nature of Humans address human foibles and everyday challenges with an open spirit.
“I seek a loving demotion / from myself,” a narrator who’s striving for humility declares; their introspection reflects that
of other speakers throughout the collection, who make a continual, conscious effort to be more thoughtful, more
considerate, and more aware of the world around them. An early entry, “Kite,” is an extended metaphor for fear-based
inaction; though its speaker wants to see his delicate flier soar “against the sapphire sky, / twisting and turning, /
twirling in delight,” they are rendered inert by the conviction that their kite may be judged by others. The lesson is
implicit and moving.
Throughout the book, figurative language reigns—always striking and direct, if of varying degrees of freshness.
Poems speak of metaphorical “inner thunder,” cobblestones, and dark corners; elsewhere, an instrument that’s been
“cracked by dissonance” leads an entry, and is, in moving form, revealed to represent the speaker themselves.
Appearing midway through, “Notice” is the first poem to truly celebrate natural images on their own merit: “the warble /of a red-winged blackbird, / an aspen leaf shivering / its pale back / to the breeze…” It’s a standout moment in a book whose natural references trend representative, and whose Nature section indulges in the same.
Powerful moments recur throughout—most often in poems that lean into their speakers’ vulnerability. In “Endless
Chatter,” the narrator declares “So, I seek myself / elsewhere”; it’s a sobering moment that results in an emotive
pause mid-entry. And as the book moves from its focus on “I” to discussing topics as part of a “we,” its already
sympathetic work becomes more open, accessible, and involving.
"I wanted to reach out and thank you for sharing your beautiful book of poetry
with me. I'm about half way through and am loving it! It's deeply resonating and I find your style both moving and refreshing. I love it."
with me. I'm about half way through and am loving it! It's deeply resonating and I find your style both moving and refreshing. I love it."