"Michael Simms is an esteemed American poet, novelist, editor, and literary activist whose work captures the intricacies of the human experience with grace and insight. Known for its precise language and poignant imagery, his poems show the intersections of nature, family, and the passage of time, reflecting a deep awareness of life's fragility and resilience and offering readers a lens through which to examine their own lives and surroundings. In addition to his poetry, Simms is a prominent figure in the literary world as the Founding Editor Emeritus of Autumn House Press and the Founding Editor of Vox Populi Sphere, nonprofit publishers that champion emerging and underrepresented voices in literature. Simms’s poetry collections, including Jubal Rising, showcase his mastery of lyricism and narrative, blending personal reflection with broader societal themes. Through his writing and his tireless advocacy for literature, Michael Simms continues to leave an indelible mark on contemporary American poetry and publishing."
     —Helen Pletts, writing for European Poetry

Praise for Cities I Can Never Return To

From the six-year-old boy who crawled out from the dark undercarriage of his double patriarchal legacies, to “a young man / who drank too much, worked too little, and greeted / kindness with suspicion,” Michael Simms emerges in these fine poems as one fully-grown man-poet, having sailed away early—after knowledge of many cities, and peoples—with his “catcher's mitt,” the unstopped “ear of a brilliant listener.”
     —Mary Jane White, author of Dragonfly. Toad. Moon.

Cities I Can Never Return To lays out the wrong turns and missed chances of a man who bears the responsibility for all his choices; he knows what it means to be lost and found and lost again and found. The scars of experience have helped Simms speak directly, modestly while forgiving himself and others, an acceptance that opens “a space large enough to receive the reconciliation of grief and laughter.” This is a book I greatly admire for its poems and for the person in and behind those poems—a book readers will return to again and again.
     —Robert Cording, author of What's Possible: New & Selected Poems.

Please order this book through your favorite online retailer.
ISBN: 978-1-933974-63-7 / $20.00