Jeffrey B. Holl

The Beings of Consolation: Poems Jeffrey B. Holl

The Beings of Consolation is a collection of poetic works that compel the reader to rely heavily on their own sense of the existentially absurd-with a tolerance for the ethos of the human artifice as it dwindles between subjective states of dismay and utter panic, objective misery and hopelessness, and a spiritual search for truth and beauty that toils within the mishaps of the distrust of authority and the sense of having to reform society's key institutions in order to arrive at any semblance of balance at the global level. Jeffrey B. Holl is well-versed at thought and able to transform both personal experiences and the observance of others into self-portraits, community assertions, and a collection of poetic characterizations where the protagonists are all faced with the innumerable dynamics of the human condition-throughout relations with others on the level of a psycho-spiritual inter-subjectivity, and also as pertains to a geopolitical perspective of what may be going on within the psyches of the several figures portrayed throughout many of these works. There is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it is most commonly found in the consciousness of the individual that finds illumination-the mind's eye-to act as the catalyst for social change; and to perhaps harness compassion for the less fortunate, and the survivors of the injustices that linger deep within our societal framework to this day. In the end, these works suggest that it is possible to act with moral agency while spiritual beliefs remain intact, but that administrative and corporate power should be reformed in an effort to give people the self-empowerment and spiritual enlightenment that they so desperately deserve. Jeffrey lives and works in Winnipeg, Canada.