Title: The Staggering Sum (Poetry)
Author: James Lilliefors
ISBN: 979-8-9896607-9-7
Publisher: River Paw Press
Page Count: 40
Language: English
Price: $17.99
SPECIAL PRE-SALE OFFER — DETAILS BELOW
“James Lilliefors’ The Staggering Sum is a powerfully moving meditation on time as an elemental force flooding through our lives, changing us in much the same way that a river alters a landscape. In these poems, the past is never far: former lovers, friends, even ‘the ancient men and women who invented rain, / and dancing, and mathematics,’ populate the present, walking the streets, lying on the shore. In these beautifully rendered stanzas, Lilliefors reveals that reflection isn’t a stopping point but an essential part of personal development, each return taking him ‘back / to where I was’ and, at the same time, ‘a little farther along / than where I am.’” — Emma Bolden, author of The Tiger and the Cage: A Memoir of a Body in Crisis
“James Lilliefors’ poems accompany us through an astonished and an astonishing world. ‘Love is unprovable. We are the proof,’ he writes in ‘The Incompleteness Theorem.’ With loss threaded gently throughout, these poems are graced with a sky full of stars, streets full of poets, and blessed memories of old bonds. Reading Lilliefors’ poems, I am reminded to face the dailiness of the world with awe.” — Andrea Potos, author of The Presence of One Word and Her Joy Becomes
“Lilliefors’ poems, written from a place of hard-won stillness, still places so we can – through his keen attention – see into them. Places past, places disquieting, places lush with loss, hope, love, regret, yearning, sorrow, death. See into the quietly, wrenchingly sublime: ‘recognizing again/how little it costs/to let the world astonish us.’” — Mark Belair, author of Settling In and other collections of poems
“In The Staggering Sum, James Lilliefors writes piercing, meditative poems about longing for moments of awe. Looking back on his life, sometimes he finds ‘a way back/ to where I was: / a little farther along / than where I am,’ and he is grateful when these moments still lift him up, leaving him ‘just flesh again,/ remembering the first flowering/of sea and land, the third day.’ I recommend this well-wrought chapbook.” — Richard Widerkehr, author of Missing the Owl and In This Porous Light
“What drew me to The Staggering Sum was its exceptional craftsmanship, poetic language, and emotional depth. With honesty, courage, and a deep awareness of the world around us, the collection embraces vulnerability while reflecting on relationships, memory, our shared struggles, and the complexities of being human. Rich in insight and artistic precision, James Lilliefors transforms his lived experiences into poetry of lasting beauty and resonance.” — Kalpna Singh-Chitnis, Poet and Judge, 2026 Silent River Poetry Prize
PRE-SALE SPECIAL OFFER: $16.00
US Order: A flat $5.00 shipping and handling fee per order within the United States will apply.
(For US orders of more than 5 copies, please contact riverpawpress(at)gmail(dot)com for an invoice)
International Order: A flat $10.00 shipping and handling fee per order will apply.
(For International orders of more than one copy, please contact riverpawpress(at)gmail(dot)com for an invoice)
US ORDER
INTERNATIONAL ORDER