“Jon Shutt has literally gone from hell and back twice during his tours of duty in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he’s now become a Virgil leading us straight down into a very real Inferno.

He spares us nothing—from a desperate Afghan soldier amputating his own foot in the midst of battle to warm bread baked in a Kurdish oven as a gift to U.S. soldiers. The most powerful of these poems capture a tour of duty that kills and kills again the souls of those who survive yet show how one soldier’s wounded heart still beats because of what continues to spring to life, even in the midst of war."

—Michael Trammell, editor of Apalachee Review

“Mr. Shutt’s words not only envoke in us a deep sense of awe for the bravery and the warrior ethos of the American Soldier, but a profound reverence for their heart, yearning for home and reaching out in compassion, even while in a
state of constant fear and uncertainty.”

—CJ Pride, Fellow Service Member

"Millner is a lyric visionary, who is rooted in the wonder and perils of our present day, as he thrashes with history and imagines multiple mystical futures."  —Denise Duhamel, The Star-Spangled Banner

"With every poem we are convinced that the supernatural is all around us—in the cabbage palms, dreams, and watermelons of every day."  —Barbara Hamby, All-Night Lingo Tango

"Each poem in this large-hearted book is truly a moment of grace."  —Michael Hettich, The Measured Breathing

"Dispatches from the Department of Supernatural Explanation is redolent with sensual beauty and human love."  —Mia Leonin, Havana and Other Missing Fathers

"For all the jokes—just wait till you read the antichrist poems (and how many times do you read that phrase?)—this is a collection that resonates with the delicate, flawed doubters inside us all."  —Katherine Riegel, Castaway

"The past blurs seamlessly into the present, often in the same poem, and no subject is too small or wide for him to consider. Millner approaches each with equal parts compassion, humor, and a modesty that gives the reader a true look inside an artist's heart."  —Emma Trelles, Tropicalia