What the Wind Says

John Miatechs poems speak of wild places, of the spiritual relationship between humans and the Earth, of the deeper belief that everything in the natural world is alive and connected, and that you can find this out for yourself if you take the time. Growing up in Michigan, John has lived in California for most of his adult life. This has allowed him to roam the rich landscape of lakes and rivers, deserts, mountains and forests that these two regions provide, giving him a deep bond with the secret places of both areas, and with the voices that speak within their borders.

Wide open spaces inhabit these poems, mountains, hawks, rain, sky, pancakes, boyhood, John Miatechs lines leap across the Western landscape and land in the human heart. Theres a common humanity here this reader recognizes, in language thats accessible and, you could say, unfancy, which these days is the highest praise.

- Clive Matson, author Let the Crazy Child Write! And Chalcedonys Songs

John Miatech is a poet who mines for crystals. He unearths the numinous hidden in solid ground, sifts through layers of memory and presence, then deftly articulates the healing force of what he finds. His poems are masterful distillations of waters that flow from the heart. Once you are a river, everything changes, he explains in a poem about the rain.

- Cynthia Potem, producer of Poetry Basket, kidefm.org