About
J. R. Thelín’s collections of poems include Last Cha Cha in Albuquerque (2017, Main Street Rag Press) and Breath Into Bone (2010, Small’s Books), as well as three chapbooks: Those Last Few Moments of Light: Poems of the Dead Boy (Slipstream Press, 2023); The Way Out West (2005, Concrete Wolf) and Dorrance, Narrative, History (2004, Pudding House Publications). A fourth chapbook, Spin: Tales from the Diamond, is forthcoming in August 2025 from Finishing Line Press. He has served as co-coordinating editor of the eleventh MUSE and as poetry reader for Shenandoah. After working for many years in Development, including stints at Colorado College and Washington and Lee University, Thelín retired as senior development researcher from University of Virginia at the end of 2020. He is married and lives, writes, and walks in Buena Vista VA.
Featured Work
Spin: Tales From the Diamond
A North American sport since the 1840s, baseball has been described as “the national religion of the U.S.” and “America’s favorite pastime.” Spin: Tales from the Diamond tracks one writer’s love of the game from sandy lots to major league parks, from pickup games by grade school players to suffering, as an adult, another losing season by his favorite professional team since childhood. The chapbook is also a story of father/son connections, of hoped-for romance and glory, and a meditation about growing up, and old, in the U.S.A. #poetry #baseball #chicagocubs #fathersandsons #baseballdiamonds #sandlots #gregmaddux
