One Step Ahead by Ken Jones

One Step Ahead is a stunning collection of poetry by Ken Jones. These poems sing, here and now, in all the right ways. The subtle nuances of voice and intonation are like treasures for the reader - things the reader witnesses because the poet points the way. A wealth of imagery jumps off the page, making these poems approachable and enjoyable for everyone. Some readers will view these poems as complex creations that rest innocently on the page, with all the appearance of simplicity on the first read, but with layers of meaning that unfold on subsequent reads. With that in mind, Jones opens this collection with a poetic instruction to the reader, “Do not look / for hidden meaning / in the words I write…” but adept readers will look beneath the sheets and behold the splendor of places that weren’t really meant to be seen. One look isn’t enough, not for any of us.

Praise for One Step Ahead:

"Shelley defined the poet as one “who beholds the present intensely as it is." To read Ken Jones’s “Close Encounter” is to behold present, past and future – all intensely, all at the same time with a dizzying frisson of recognition. With the physicist’s gift for apprehending the convergence of forces that press upon the immediate and the artist’s gift for capturing the numinous, the inchoate, the hidden, Jones in his poetry remakes the world, stripping from it the veil of familiarity, recreating it, making it new again -- both rich and strange."
Dr Kathleen Schultheis, English department, Oak Park HS, California.

"Ken Jones’ poems place us right smack dab in the present. These heart poems, this English voice is immersed in the wonder of the word the world. This book embraces the awe the spectacle of the moment. These “scribblings” look inward and in that journey, life is there “ … all the while / like a flowing river / and you / just / happen / to it."
Phil Taggart, Ventura County Poet Laureate (www.philtaggart.com)