In 2002 and 2005, Menard Press published Then and Now - Words in the Dark and From Now to Then as the first two books of a three-part work-in-progress. As a selection from the on-going third book - Opus 3 - Boccaccio in Florence and Other Poems offers the reader what amounts to a historical preview of the three fundamental 'concerns' of human life on which Opus 3 as a whole will be based - the emotional/physical, the ethical, and the spiritual - by means of a more or less chronological rather than thematic arrangement, from Boccaccio and the Dance of Death to the present day. To this extent, Boccaccio in Florence is a variation on the themes of Opus 3 and a work in its own right.
Comments on the first two books of Then and Now:
Then and Now - Words in the Dark (2002)
"... a lovely book, endlessly surprising in its variety and range, and in the resourcefulness of its rhyming - learned, tough and humane."
John Wakeman, The Shop
"Every page of Then and Now bears witness to the sheer quality of its author's writing... This is a major work: full of ideas and not afraid to make judgements, often moving, and impressively well-made."
Glyn Pursglove, Poetry Nottingham
From Now to Then (2005)
"... absolutely splendid, full of all sorts of styles and wit and devilishly fine writing."
Christopher Pilling
"... a stunning work of astonishing versatility. Jackson is at ease with a whole gamut of verse-forms, styles and techniques."
Matt Simpson, Stride
Comments on the first two books of Then and Now:
Then and Now - Words in the Dark (2002)
"... a lovely book, endlessly surprising in its variety and range, and in the resourcefulness of its rhyming - learned, tough and humane."
John Wakeman, The Shop
"Every page of Then and Now bears witness to the sheer quality of its author's writing... This is a major work: full of ideas and not afraid to make judgements, often moving, and impressively well-made."
Glyn Pursglove, Poetry Nottingham
From Now to Then (2005)
"... absolutely splendid, full of all sorts of styles and wit and devilishly fine writing."
Christopher Pilling
"... a stunning work of astonishing versatility. Jackson is at ease with a whole gamut of verse-forms, styles and techniques."
Matt Simpson, Stride