“Just a Minute” By Tom Vaughan

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ Cyberwit.net (July 5, 2024)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 28 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 8119654773
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-8119654772
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 3.04 ounces
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.07 x 8.5 inches

• Best Sellers Rank: #2,333,392 in Books

Review by LB Sedlacek

Tom Vaughan offers up several “minute” poems written in stanzas of twelve lines along with 60 syllables in this new collection. While it is a shorter book of poems, it effectively embodies quality over quantity.

It is fun as a poetry lover and reader to become a participant in this rather original poetic experience. There’s much positivity to be found in creating a work that a reader might be less familiar with giving the opportunity for something gained or added for growth as one reads through these poems.

Vaughan opens his book with a poem entitled “A Hint of Heaven.” In it, he explores what life or what living in Heaven might be like. His next poem jumps into the consideration of aging with “Leap Year.”

The following poems dive into looks at shoelaces and lunch. Of course, his poems are distinguished by delving into so much more than the actual subjects at hand.

From the poem “Leaving Washington”:

“We count the days. Thirty till we’re

right out of here.

In twenty-one

the packers come.

Lunches, dinners, saying farewell . . .

In parallel

more than enough

dull admin stuff:

accounts to close, phone bills to pay.

No careless, stray

weekends to waste –

just frantic haste”

          Vaughan’s writing has a virality to it. His language is soft, but also strong. He’s able to suggest emotions and meanings and to convey his interpretations in subtle nuanced verses.

          Of note is one of the longer poems in the collection entitled “On Top.” It is a clever and thoughtful look at feminism, or perhaps one that compares the differences between male and female and how they relate to one another.

          Overall, Vaughan has achieved the perfect blend of poems essentially capturing the old and the new. He gives us complicated ideas written in wonderful digestible literary bits.

~LB Sedlacek is the author of several books of poetry including “Unresponsive Sky,” “Poem Medicine,” “The Poet Next Door,” “Simultaneous Submissions,” “Ghost Policy,” “Swim,” “I’m No Robot,” and “This Space Available.”  Her short stories books include “The Jackalope Committee & Other Stories” and “The Renovator & Motor Addiction.” Her poem novel is “The Blue Eyed Side.”