Critical Commentary
"Jeffrey Spahr-Summers scores with Mary Jane Doesn't Live Here Anymore."
(from Factsheet Five, S-44t/MG, 1991)
"Watching Daddy Die, by Jeffrey Spahr-Summers, is hauntingly moving. Ironically, this poem is not about watching daddy die, but about the speaker's inability to do so. The poem begins with a distanced description: "Something weighs heavy on the man/Lulled to sleep deep in the recliner." And the speaker, who lives several states away from his parents, is inquisitive, calm: "something makes me wonder/Why death deals a winning hand/Then shouts foul play across the table." But the poem moves quickly to the personal and takes an emotional turn: "But who is the old man silent behind me." Following lines prepare the reader for the poems well-achieved ending: "I'm afraid to watch mama cry,/I'm not strong enough to watch daddy die."
(Nettie Farris, Literary Magazine Review, Vol. 11, No. 2 Summer 1992)
"Poetry Victims, now there's a catchy name. Who among us has not been victimized by poetry-be it by the pen and tear-streaked stationary of a heartbroken ex who can't take a hint or the unfeeling editor who callously rejected your latest poetic offering, we have all felt the sting of poetry. How could I not sign up for The Poetry Victim's daily e-mail?
And that's how I met Jeffrey Spahr-Summers, a.k.a. ZZ Baggins, the mysterious and oh-so dependable creator of The Poetry Victims. The mode is set, The music is provided ... all we have to do is follow along and enjoy.
We live in uncertain times, but if there is one thing we are able to rely on, Dan Rather no longer a given, it is that The Poetry Victims will appear unfailingly in our mailboxes-no matter what. We've sat with Jeffrey through his father's passing and through the subsequent cremation. We've cried with him-his loss was ours; I felt his pain keenly standing guard now over my own father during what are his final days.
Jeffrey Spahr-Summers is a constant-and I take comfort in knowing that."
(Patricia Gomes, Lily Literary Review, 2004)
