Thoughts on Tonight by Nathan J. Reid

Nathan J. Reid’s Thoughts on Tonight is a collection of tender philosophies on love and loss. With self-consciousness and a gratitude for the experiences of life, Reid encourages us to be present to memory and what is right in front of us. The poems tap a broad lexicon that includes music and dramatic culture. The zoom level veers widely, way out to comets and planets, back in to the iconography of the quotidian: Tom Waits, vomitoriums, Stephen Hawking, Tardis pants, minestrone soup, the way “two nude spoons roll in a heavy napkin,” the sentimental collections of the heart.

–Karen Schubert, Author of I Left My Wings on a Chair

Nate Reid writes about shimmering nature, the heavens above, and the hot lives that burn in between. His poems are written to be voiced, and here they speak, sing, dance themselves off the page. Collected here and read in sequence, they are segued like the best mix tape love letter, to all of us.

—Dr. Ellen Watson, Culture Critic and Blogger

Nathan Reid’s poems dance between nature and life. At once sensual and lyrical, “Your hand arrives at my face/like five golden leaves gliding onto a gentle pond,” they also reach beyond the senses—“The only noise is streetlight./He considers all these things: the laughter audible, the nows even closer than before.” They remind us of our mortality and limitations, while also connecting us to life, nature, and music.

—Arya F. Jenkins, Author of Silence Has A Name and Jewel Fire