John Wareham

PULITZER POETRY NOMINEE DEFINES THE DECADE
With the John Edwards, Mark Sanford, and Tiger Woods scandals in the news, Sonnets for Sinners became America's #1 bestsellling anthology of sonnets when published on Valentine's Day 2010.

The actual words and heartfelt sentiments of these sinners -- and their loved ones -- culled from public domain textings, emails, and utterances, and tinkered into sonnet form by anthologist John Wareham, play out in an illustrious company of eminent classic and modern poets, from Shakespeare, Yeats and Millay, to the modern age. The infamous cell phone call of Prince Charles to his mistress Camilla is also distilled into sonnet form. Bill and Hilary Clinton make cameo appearances, too.

The innermost secrets of these unwitting contributors are also artfully dissected and laid bare in a trenchant page of insight and analysis that accompanies each poem.

“Distilling actual lines from pop culture figures into love sonnets, and then diagnosing the secret meanings, is akin to performing heart surgery,” says Wareham. “The patient is naked, and the beating heart itself is exposed.”

For sure, the passionate poems in this subversive compilation have caught the attention of literary aficionados. “The sonnet form lends itself to showcasing journeys of illicit love,” says David Stamford Burr, professor of Poetry at New York University: “But what makes this particular anthology unique is the quality of each and every poem, and the accompanying page of wry insight.”

“Sonnets for Sinners is astonishing as it is unique,” says Charles Defanti, Kean professor . emeritus of literature: ““Wareham is a savvy life coach and a deft wordsmith. His tinkered sonnets are deft, and for every one of these forty nine sonnets he delivers, with the lightest of touches, profound and penetrating insights. Every page contains a life lesson that every lover, illicit or otherwise, will surely take to heart.”
John Weber, chief of Welcome Rain Publishers agrees, “To succumb to the spell of this catechism—and absorb the wry accompanying analyses—is to know why the New York Times observed, “John Wareham has the cool, clear eyes of a seeker of wisdom and truth.”
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For more information, including video interviews with leading poetry critics and commentators, go to: http:/​/​thewashingtonwatch.com/​bookreviews/​sonnetsforsinners/​