When to Ask for Rain

"Rain and the river are central in this stunning book of poems by Tyler Robert Sheldon. His writing is clean, clear, and as accessible as Jane Kenyon's and Mary Oliver's, but beneath the surface of these poems runs a vein of pure linguistic gold. There are no slack moments in this book. Each piece surprises and satisfies with brilliant images and word choices. After a Night on the Sandbar, we hear "...the hum of dark water, the sizzle of stars." Beautiful language. So simple. So enjoyable. This writer knows the river, "...bucks under the weight of its rider." that (the river) "At night it shakes its long mane. Often, we are surprised with such beauty. After dinner "...lights in the restaurant are warm as midafternoon sun. You are back in the world, and all the world is pleased" as will be the readers of this superb and engrossing collection.


-R. Nikolas Macioci, author of Why Dance? and
Dark Guitar


"In his new collection When to Ask for Rain Tyler Robert Sheldon writes about the common things in his life but with a poet's eye. He weaves this subtle yet powerful collection together by taking us on a journey into his classroom, through Louisiana and by providing vivid snapshots of floating and camping on the river. This poetry is not in your face but it is almost something that we should already know and relayed to the reader in a gentle voice and tone. When to ask for Rain is a refreshing new collection of poetry that when you read it for the second and third time you will discover what you may have forgotten. It is the journey and what you do with it."


-Scot Young, author of All Around Cowboy


"These sharp-focused vignettes and portraits of people and places slow us into moments that upend, delight, and sometimes alarm us, as Sheldon proposes that 'learning is often like instant photography where we all must be shaken awake.' The careful craft of these poems carries the reader into rain-drenched Louisiana streets 'full of good luck and trouble,' and upstream to muddy midwestern rivers alive with hidden fossils and finds. This brilliant, alluvial collection explores the ways we make communion, the ways we trace ourselves back towards a source, the way our waters combine, become one story brimming with legends, ancient arrowheads, and the one that got away."

-Amy Sage Webb-Baza, Author of Save Your
Own Life: Kansas Stories




"In this wonderfully watery poetry collection, Tyler Robert Sheldon looks and listens with sincerity. Whether as a newcomer to the Deep South, a teacher, or a seeker of artifacts, Sheldon interrogates the liminal spaces where meaning can be found, and his readers are the wiser for the discoveries shared in these finely wrought poems."


~Amy Fleury, author of Sympathetic Magic