About SUB/con

SUB/con was put together in 1997 and contains several poems and two essays that I wrote as far back as 1993. The title is a wordplay where each part can be added as a prefix with the word, “verse.”

The collection contains a few gems, works that I am proud of, but it is a warts-and-all project, revealing an overwhelming darkness that pervades the whole book. See for yourself how often the words, “cancer,” “death,” and “shit,” appear throughout the book. Still, there is a sense, in SUB/con, that I will stubbornly not give up on life despite it obviously being a burden. Each poem is highly personal, and, although, not always written from my point of view, each one has a strong sense of voice, and I am eager to read these to an audience, but so far that has not happened.

SUB/con contains the poem “Spring Cleaning,” which, written mere days before the book was published, contains hints at the new direction that I would take in later works, like “Raw.” The works in SUB/con are not in any particular order. Some of the physical books contain the works in different orders, but of course the PDF is relatively stable in this regard. I have even added a table of contents, and bookmarks, to the PDF for easy navigation.

To read or print the PDF, you need Acrobat Reader, a free program from Adobe that allows you to..., well, to read and print PDFs. Feel free to distribute and mark up any poem or essay as you see fit. I retain all copyrights, but really, if you like it enough to steal it, I'll be happy to know that my works have impressed you. It might be better just to send me an email, though. My next collection of words, will probably be a book of essays titled, The Riddle.

—Jonathan
02 Nov 2000