About the Author

Jan D. Hodge grew up in a letterpress printing shop in small town Michigan, and received his BA and MA degrees from the University of Michigan and his PhD from the University of New Mexico, where he wrote his dissertation on Charles Dickens. He taught at Rockford (Illinois) College and at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. His poems have appeared in many print and online journals and anthologies, and his books TAKING SHAPE (2015) and THE BARD & SCHEHERAZADE KEEP COMPANY: POEMS (2017) were published by Able Muse Press.

Reviews

Jan D. Hodge has given us an astonishing book-as remarkable a tour de force as ever I've seen. I wouldn't have thought that witty verse form, the double dactyl, could be used to tell a story, but modifying the pattern only slightly, Hodge retells some celebrated stories in enjoyable style-Shakespeare plays, six tales from the Arabian Nights, and the popular medieval legend of Reynard the Fox. You don't have to admire poetic ingenuity to read them with pleasure, but I'm all dumb doglike admiration at Hodge's spectacular triumph.
-X.J. Kennedy Jan D. Hodge's mastery of the double dactyl is nothing short of stunning. Open this book at random, and you will find the form perfectly used, the language both natural and original, and the wit a delight. From Romeo to Reynard, you're going to love these poems.
-Gail White Jan D. Hodge has renovated the most challenging of light verse forms and transformed it into a vehicle for poems that revisit classic works of literature. Hodge's deft handling of meter and intermittent quirky notes create a sense of intimacy between the reader and the poet that is both enjoyable and rare in today's poetry.
-A.M. Juster