Truth’s Truth: Poetic Portraits

Joe Kleponis is fundamentally a storyteller. His poems are tales that are infused with a sense of history, purpose, and place. Within them you will find a cast characters that both entertain and prompt readers to think deeply about their situations and sacrifices. In these rich, vivid stories we meet gamblers, lovers, fighters, and dreamers. The truth itself is a character that plays major role. In the book’s title the poet calls his poems portraits. That is not by mistake. Much like a skilled artist, his attention to detail adds depth and clarity to the players and their whimsical stories. Readers will no doubt enjoy this insightful journey.-Matt Kraunelis, Author of Tackle Box and Co-Founder of the Grey Court Poets & Robert Frost Foundation

Joe Kleponis’s poems are a gift of storytelling. With wry, wistful, joyous, funny stories brought to life, Joe’s poems have a way of capturing people and places that are so vivid that you feel that you are there. Although I didn’t grow up in New England, these poems made me think I knew these characters and their haunts. After reading this book, you’ll want to seek out Joe at local open mics to hear him deliver one of these slices of life.

-Mark Bohrer, Poet Laureate of North Andover

In Truth’s Truth, Joe Kleponis gives us summer bliss, baseball games, moments of joy, and longing with our friends and our parents, favorite shops and places-in short, portraits of life. In these rich, carefully observed poems, he reminds us to look closely at all of our lives because the beautiful things are sadly fleeting. This book is a deeply felt-deeply human-collection.

-Jon Bishop, Author of Scratching Lottery Tickets on a Street Corner