In praise of HEART MURMURS:   

“I like his commitment to the poetics of clarity.  Things are said straight in these poems.”  —Bruce Weigl, Pulitzer Prize nominee, Pushcart Prize winner, and author of Song of Napalm. 

"He charms the reader with imagery and wry humor.  Heart Murmurs is a very welcome collection from a confident, compelling poet."  —Beth Ann Fennelly, Pushcart Prize winner, and author of Unmentionables.   

“A far-ranging view of life that feels hard-earned and complete.”  —Elton Glaser, recipient of the Ohioana Book Award and Marlboro Prize in Poetry, and author of Here and Hereafter. 

“These are poems that do not expect miracles, but wish them for us all the same.”  —Lou Suarez, Red Mountain Award winner, and author of Ask.

John (Jack) Vanek is a physician and award-winning poet who has published five dozen poems.   “The People’s Republic” was inducted into the permanent collection of the George Bush Presidential Library, and reprinted in Red, White and Blues:  Poets on the Promise of America by the University of Iowa Press.  In addition to the Bush Library, he has read his work at the Akron Art Museum in Ohio, Eckerd College in Florida, and numerous public libraries and bookstores.