I like the human feel in particular in Andreas' work. When I read him, I feel as if he is literally sitting next to me, talking to me sometimes with cynicism, sometimes with love-longing, and sometimes with corset-splitting humour.
-- Gina Onyemaechi, poet, England
You are my favourite living poet, no disrespect to all my other favourites because they are dead. I don't say that lightly, having shelves of poetry books. We won't mention the living writers because it's not fair to compare when I adore your writings so.
-- Amber Dawn Pullin, photographer & poet, Canada
You are to me the best poet of the century. I have never read a poem of yours I did not like.
-- Karina Klesko, editor & poet, USA
I've always admired in your poetry the respect and compassion you give to your topics, characters, themes: never the more common pushy word-juggler whose verses serve always as a vehicle for pet viewpoints & poetry styles, but a poet grounded in the everyday. It's no wonder I (and many others) can always easily conjure, in a moment, the names of Amy, Dopchek, Veronica: you've made them so accessible, endearing, and all too real.
-- Conrad DiDiodato, teacher & poet, Canada
Your poetry has an uncommon, common touch: it touches something in each of us, gives us a word, a phrase, a picture that we can easily relate to. Poetry that does what poetry is meant to do: communicate! This is quite unlike the language poetry that is becoming more visible all the time, and which seldom has an identifiable message. There is a richness in phrasing and meaning in your poems that the language poets have forgotten about. When I tire of the slashing pencils of minimalist editors and experimental poems that have no apparent meaning, I enjoy ... the inspiration here from you.
-- Carol Stephen, poet, Canada
Re: The Lesser Light (new book release, 2009)
Your book is so dramatically presented, so powerful in the ideas ... breathtaking, the whole concept so stark with truth and pathos. (The poem) "Fog" is the closest expression I have read of loss and longing. Your work is becoming very cutting-edge great ... this book is highest quality contemporary writing. So vulnerable, so human.
-- Katherine L. Gordon, poet & reviewer, Canada
Re: Dr. Lerner's Study Notes, or The Treatise of Cameron King:
This poem is spectacular, Andreas. It is so powerful, so full of force, I am genuinely bowled over by it and somewhat struck for words. The rhythm and half-rhymes are mesmerizing ... the last line is chilling. You are one amazing writer.
-- Wendy Mooney, Ireland
Re: Before You Die
I absolutely loved it! Laughing death in the face, talking about things we fear in a way that disarms them.
-- Julia Klimenova, Russia
Re: On Solving The New York Times
The angry energy of your poetry feels like it's just dying to burst out of the words and lines in which it is contained. What a perfect metaphor the boxes of a crossword puzzle are. Please please please write more.
-- Ian Blake, USA
Re: The Birth of Lovely Veronica
This is superb writing. The juxtapositions in the first two stanzas are stunning. The entire poem is breathtaking and powerful.
-- Hugh Cobb, USA
Re: The Birth of Lovely Veronica
The use of repetition in this poem cradles the poem itself, a talisman, a lullaby for the newly born child. The imagery is startlingly beautiful -- the contrast between the unsullied, womb-like state and the harsh reality of this shit of a world we live in shocks. A strong, strong poem. Wow.
-- Wendy Mooney, Ireland
Re: Maria the English Major
I find this powerfully evocative, wonderfully flowing and at the same time, demanding. I want to read more of your poems!
-- Max Reif, USA
Re: Dropping Acid, or Oliver's Awakening at Lee-Anne's Potluck
Andreas, this poem is so cool that I want to marry you !!!!!
-- Wendy Mooney, Ireland
Re: Dopchek, Superintendent
I've read many outstanding poems of yours but this has to be among the best. I'm convinced
you've mastered the art of finding sublimity in the "everyday", in the ordinary "someplaces" of life and people's lives! If Dopchek is not fictional, you may have just immortalized him in verse. The only other poem in which I've seen this technique work as brilliantly is in Irving Layton's poem to
his mother, "Keine Lazarovitch". As I've said before about your writing, you are as good as the American Poet Laureate, Billy Collins.
-- Conrad DiDiodato, Canada
Re: Picking Baby Names with the Toss of a Canadian Quarter
I'm very glad to have Like Darwin Among the Gods in my poetry collection. It's fun to hear your voice in all its range, from cranky to exalted. One of my faves is "Picking Baby Names with the Toss of a Canadian Quarter." It's like a quirky, opinionated history of the world as it is at this moment, with a moving ending, too.
-- Molly Peacock, USA / Canada
Re: And Then There Was Light
This is a beautiful poem, Andreas. The imagery is quite breathtaking. The manner in which the poem is laid out into one long and two shorter stanzas serves the poem well as the voice of the narrative alters. The opening line is excellent, preparting the reader for what is to follow. The second stanza (which acts as a link) is a stroke of genius. A most wonderful poem.
-- Denis Joe, Ireland
Re: Pacifica
I love your writing, Andreas. It is always clear and accessible. I enjoy your turn of phrase and the fluency and colour of your poems. This is one of your best.
-- Alison Cassidy, Australia