Extreme Directions

Evolved from the poet's observation of the daily practice of Tai Chi Sword, these poems evoke the fluidity of martial art practice, the motion of Chinese brushstroke painting, as well as the shifting physical and metaphysical arena that is human relationship. Each poem title is one of the 54 sword movements of Tai Chi, which literally means the outer-most limits, great polarities, and Jones's poems articulate the polarities and synergies of living in a language that is at once intimate and expansive.