“Jonathan Yungkans writes as if he were a John Ashbery clone who’d spent his youth in an L.A. punk band…. Death looms largely over a fabricated landscape; past and present
mingle uneasily; memory and dream provide a momentary “shimmer.””
—Gail Wronsky, Clockwise Chapbook Competition judge, and author of Imperfect Pastorals
“Jonathan Yungkans is a monster. So glad to have his talents here.”
—Scott Ferry, author of The only thing that makes sense is to grow
“These poems simultaneously zoom out and focus, with precision, on life and its intricacies. Yungkans combines the unexpected—the Bakelite arm of an LP player with thin-mirrored woods, Jesus and moonwalking, a raccoon and Snow White’s apple, until each poem sings with vivid, lyric energy. Beneath a Glazed Shimmer is mesmerizing and exquisite.”
—Alexandra Umlas, Pushcart-nominated author of At the Table of the Unknown
“Rarely a wasted syllable here. Barely a sound that hasn’t been presaged or won’t be echoed in dense music. His scenery is urban and mobile with no shortage of detritus, while nature makes its play for attention—leaves “persevere even as they desiccate” in the poem containing the titular metaphor for the poet’s consciousness and conscience.”
—Patty Seyburn, author of Threshold Delivery and Perfecta
Jonathan Yungkans is a Los Angeles-based writer and photographer whose first poetry chapbook, Colors the Thorns Draw (Desert Willow Press), was released in 2018. His work has appeared in San Pedro Poetry Review, Synkroniciti, West Texas Literary Review and a number of other publications. He received an MFA from California State University, Long Beach and currently works as a health-care provider.
