John Robert Colombo

Remains to Be Seen with its equivocal title is a collection of the “Poems and Effects of 2019” composed by the Toronto poet and editor John Robert Colombo. There are over one hundred texts here in the sixteenth volume in this series of “poetry annuals” issued since the year 2005. These collections offer unexpected insights into the society of the poet and the world at large. Included is the author’s journal in prose for the same period of time. For the inventive use of language and unusual views of life under constraints, Remains to Be Seen is a work of complexity and charm. 

ISBN-10 1-894540-92-1 / ISBN-13 978-1-894540-92-6. Cover design and photo by Bill Andersen. Trade paperback format, 6 x 9 inches, 188 pages. $35.00 plus postage and handling.

More One Word Poems is a collection of poems that are so brief they might be called breviloquent. Most of the poems are a single word in length, seldom more than three words in all! Yet each poem is complete in itself. The reader is offered an unusual reading experience, one that requires co-operation (indeed, co-creation) along with the poet, John Robert Colombo, himself. There are about 770 poems or effects here that have been arranged under some 630 subject headings. More One Word Poems (2019) is the sequel to the same author’s One Word Poems which appeared in 2007.

ISBN-10 1-894540-91-3. Cover design by Bill Andersen. Trade paperback format, 6 x 9 inches, 78 pages. $25.00 plus postage and handling.

I Dream of Pallas Athene offers the reader thirty-nine original poems, some quite lengthy, that honour the spirit of Pallas Athene as a goddess of the Ancient Greeks and also in her present emanations as the Oracle, the Sibyl, the Witch, the Wiccan, the Psychic, the Channeler, and the Googler. Ruth Colombo, the author, is a retired Professor of English and Canadian Studies and is the author of the three-volume trilogy titled Sisters Agonistes – Sisters of Elysium, Sisters of Earth, Sisters of Olympus. ISBN-10 1-894540-90-5. Cover design by Bill Andersen. Trade paperback format, 6 x 9 inches, 216 pages. $35.00 plus postage and handling.

John Robert Colombo’s latest publication consists of all the poems and effects that he composed during the year 2018. The contents appear in chronological order, as do the entries in the Canadian author and anthologist’s diary or journal entries for the same year. It is surprising how many subjects and topics were depicted and described during those 365 days – difficult days by and large – so that it is hard to expound on the great range of interests shown in Future Considerations. As one poem begins: “Yes, it is hard to be a god, / Even a lesser god … / Especially a lesser god.”

6 x 8 inches, cover design by Bill Andersen, trade paperback format, published in 2019, total of 232 pages, ISBN-10 1-894540-88-3, $35 plus HST and postage.

This is the general title of five volumes that collect the occasional writings of one of the most prolific of Canada’s authors and anthologists. It is a treasury of his lesser-known works. In addition to researching, writing, editing, collecting, compiling, annotating, translating, and publishing over 222 books between the years 1957 and 2017, the author has written more than 1,000 short articles and essays – more than 1,000,000 words in all – that are now appearing, in the main for the first time, in this uniform edition. The Notebooks shed light on the achievement of this writer and editor-at large and share with readers, both general and specialist, one person’s informed thoughts, observations, feelings, and enthusiasms about cultural considerations, civilized values, literature, mysteries, Canadiana, and the world at large.

Soft cover. 5.5 x 8.5 inches, French flaps, author photographs by Bill Andersen, set of five books, trade paperback format, total of 2,323 pages.

Volume I: ISBN-13: 978-1-55497-760-4
Volume II: ISBN-13:978-1-55497-761-1
Volume III: ISBN-13:978-1-55497-762-8
Volume IV: ISBN-13: 978-1-55497-763-5
Volume V: ISBN-13: 978-1-55497-764-2

Set of 5 Volumes: ISBN-13-978-1-55497-795-9 (trade paperbacks)
Set of 5 Volumes: ISBN-13-978-1-55497-766-6 (e-books)

Available from The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box. $150.00

Here is an entertaining compilation of out-of-the-way Canadiana discovered and presented by John Robert Colombo. The information is described in a novel manner. This is not a quiz book (long questions, short answers) but a question-and-answer book (short questions, long answers). The exchanges are grouped by categories: People, Places, Things, Ideas. Amaze yourself, amaze your friends. Ideal for both the browser and the specialist.

Soft cover. Cover design by Bill Andersen. 5.5 x 8.25 inches, 250 pages, ISBN-13: 978-1-55497-804-5 (trade paperback); ISBN-13: 978-1-55497-805-2 (Adobe e-book). A publication of The Battered Silicon Dispatch Box. $30.00

In these pages are more than 175 poems and effects, along with twelve months of entries from the author’s daily journal. They document the year 2017 as lived by John Robert Colombo. Here are musings and amazements aplenty: tributes, reminiscences, plays on words, philosophical arguments, answers to unasked questions, lists, innovations, etc. The reader will be surprised at the turn of every page.

Soft cover. Designed by Bill Andersen. 6×9 inches, 296 pages, ISBN-10 1-894540-85-9 $50.00