Since 1980, Jones has received numerous honors, including a National Book Critics Circle Award, the American Academy of Arts and Letters Jean Stein Award, the Academy of American Poets Lavan Younger Poets Award, Pulitzer finalist status and a Guggenheim Fellowship (“Rodney”).

His most recent poem “Ten Sighs from a Sabbatical,” which was originally published in the magazine Five Points has been chosen for the 2003 edition of The Best American Poetry, the nation’s top poetry annual.

In 1985, Jones joined the faculty of Southern Illinois University Carbondale, after a year as lecturer, as professor of English. He has written many books, including The Story They Told Us of Light, Transparent Gestures, and The Unborn, all of which I will be discussing poems from in this essay.

Most of Jones’ poems do not have a set rhyme scheme or follow what some might say would be a traditional poem form. He uses

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