Portal by Jan G. Otterstrom F.
Portal by Jan G. Otterstrom F.
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Awarded the 1967 BYU Hart-Larson Poetry Prize
Jan distills the richness of his long life experience: family man, peace activist , Latin American and Caribbean consultant, internet developer, believer in Perpetual Revolution, producer of music and orchids, high school chemistry teacher, Christian (Mormon), guitarist, surfer, soccer player and fan, into a rich array of poems that , at times , please sentiments yet more often, trouble with bold freshness and verve.
Published twice in Cuba and in a second edition in South America his poetry is widely read outside of conventional channels. Having lived for over 23 years in Costa Rica, traveling frequently to Caribbean Islands and South America his poetry has an expatriate flavor yet is a regional voice, maybe fulfilling an A.R. Ammon’s dream from Ammon’s poem “Middling Seasons” “…a sunny calm clime in which to hang onto some wrong idea about the nature of things.”
International Poets Review
How best to explain the poetry of Jan Otterstrom? These lines by the British poet William Blake , in his poem “Auguries of Innocence” most vividly express the depth, power, wonder and the reach of Otterstrom’s work: “ … to see a World in a grain of sand and a Heaven in a wild power. To hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour…” Jan Otterstrom is a hugely important contemporary poet. The substantial body of his creative work is now receiving wider recognition. In my long life as a blind person, the sound and significance of every word is most important. I hear in Otterstrom’s poems, the magic of multiple universes and all that they contain. Fred K. Tarrant Distinguished story writer, most recently “The First Time Ever” and “The Ten Springs Woods” both collections available through major Internet Booksellers.
Soft cover.
Jan distills the richness of his long life experience: family man, peace activist , Latin American and Caribbean consultant, internet developer, believer in Perpetual Revolution, producer of music and orchids, high school chemistry teacher, Christian (Mormon), guitarist, surfer, soccer player and fan, into a rich array of poems that , at times , please sentiments yet more often, trouble with bold freshness and verve.
Published twice in Cuba and in a second edition in South America his poetry is widely read outside of conventional channels. Having lived for over 23 years in Costa Rica, traveling frequently to Caribbean Islands and South America his poetry has an expatriate flavor yet is a regional voice, maybe fulfilling an A.R. Ammon’s dream from Ammon’s poem “Middling Seasons” “…a sunny calm clime in which to hang onto some wrong idea about the nature of things.”
International Poets Review
How best to explain the poetry of Jan Otterstrom? These lines by the British poet William Blake , in his poem “Auguries of Innocence” most vividly express the depth, power, wonder and the reach of Otterstrom’s work: “ … to see a World in a grain of sand and a Heaven in a wild power. To hold infinity in the palm of your hand and eternity in an hour…” Jan Otterstrom is a hugely important contemporary poet. The substantial body of his creative work is now receiving wider recognition. In my long life as a blind person, the sound and significance of every word is most important. I hear in Otterstrom’s poems, the magic of multiple universes and all that they contain. Fred K. Tarrant Distinguished story writer, most recently “The First Time Ever” and “The Ten Springs Woods” both collections available through major Internet Booksellers.
Soft cover.