The Elephant of Silence

“What a pleasure to follow poet John Wall Barger’s singular, brilliant, unpretentious, generous mind, as he writes in an utterly natural and precise way about subjects notoriously difficult to discuss: poetry, film, writing, marriage, even silence.” ~Matthew Zapruder, author of Story of a Poem

“If you can’t go to the movies with Barger, do the next best thing and enjoy these sensitive, playful essays on what he’s watched, read, and observed, with a poet’s blend of thought and feeling.” ~Adrienne Su, author of Peach State

“Barger’s essays are all, in some way, about the creative process itself and the audience’s role as a vital participant in that process. An author has defined a set of parameters, yet it is up to us, the viewer, to bring our own lived experience to bear it out. Barger navigates this terrain with the ease and imagination of an expert tour guide, a ‘Stalker’—in the spirit of Tarkovsky—who understands our own pivotal involvement in helping to create this world we inhabit.” ~Bill Morrison, director of Dawson City: Frozen Time