Sudden Shadows, the author’s first collection of poetry, will be published in 2025
by Finishing Line Press.

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“James Lilliefors’ debut chapbook Sudden Shadows is poetry built on a foundation of
love and gratitude. His words sustain a deep connection with joy while exploring, with
honesty, the invisible darkness of life and the ache in which we find the truest
expressions of the human experience. This collection will crack you open and in it you
may find your inspiration to keep going, as well.” – Kellie Scott-Reed, assistant editor-
in-chief, Roi Faineant Press.

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“Sudden Shadows is a poignant journey through the landscapes of memory, loss, and
nostalgia. James Lilliefors writes with an intimacy that draws readers into moments of
profound reflection – capturing the fleeting nature of childhood, the quiet beauty of
nature, and the weight of grief. Each poem feels like a quiet revelation, turning the
ordinary into something extraordinary. Lilliefors’ ability to blend the personal with the
universal resonates long after reading, making Sudden Shadows a heartfelt and deeply
evocative collection.” – A.R. Williams, author of A Funeral in the Wild and Time in
Shenandoah, editor of East Ridge Review.

“James Lilliefors’ poems are technically accomplished, thoughtful, and rewarding on
first reading. He writes compellingly in both open and closed forms, with memorable
imagery and diction, about the passage of time, loss, and the beauty of the world. There
is much to admire, and to enjoy.” – David Stephenson, author of Rhythm and Blues,
winner of the Richard Wilbur Award, and editor of Pulsebeat Poetry Journal.

“‘The will to survive/outlasts the will to destroy,’ notes the speaker in ‘The
Purpose of Trees,’ a poem that captures a thematic core of James Lilliefors’
Sudden Shadows: how to safeguard the singularity of one’s experience that, over
time, figures as ‘breath on glass.’ Tender and earnest in their instruction, Sudden
Shadows offers us poems of a life unfolding – of witness, of loss and
remembrance, and of wisdom gathered – though especially of preservation. As
snow collects, ‘…I pull on my boots/and go outside/to walk in it, while I still
can/To leave footprints.’ And reader, despite time and shadow, these poems are the
footprints. These poems are a heart pulsating in the hand. As in the living room,
after the speaker’s beloved exhales her final breath, still the ‘cat slept on her

cushion/and sunlight continued/to stream in.’ Allow the beauty and lessons of
Sudden Shadows to stream through you, too – to consider what might be
apprehended amidst all this waning light. The answer? More light.” – Susan L.
Leary, author of Dressing the Bear.

“Fireflies flicker, trees stand guard, reality outgrows boyhood, vows succumb, the
past lures, nature takes her course only to be snuffed, old shoes are filled one last
time, and eons end in Lilliefors’ world, steeped in vivid, fragrant nostalgia. Despite
its fair share of loss and heartache, this is a world you want to inhabit, for it’s
where love dwells.” – Ankit Raj Ojha, author of Pinpricks and editor of Wives and
The Hooghly Review.

“James Lilliefors’ Sudden Shadows traverses ‘the borders of certainty,’ navigating our
world of compulsions and desires, reminders of the past and the open question of the
future. All the while, the collection seems to ask how to live in the spaces we pass
through, when it is all too clear that our presence is temporary. But it answers that
question too: just consider the observation of how ‘a beam of sunlight made patterns/
in our living space.’ The voice of these poems is no stranger to loss, but ‘Hope sleeps
like a dangerous thought,’ and dares to find meaning in the shifting light.” – Andy
Fogle, author of Mother Countries and Across From Now, poetry editor of Salvation
South.

“Lilliefors’ collection deals with life’s quiet moments to contemplate as well as the
losses that are universal to readers. These poems urge us to reflect on our own lives
and our connections with the world around us. It’s as if Lilliefors takes us back to the
earth and to a time where our thoughts began.” – Charlotte Cosgrove, author of Silent
Violence with Petals and Neurotic Harmony, and editor of Rough Diamond Poetry
Journal.