WRONG THINGS (paperback)

Jason Melvin resides just north of Pittsburgh, PA, where he plays the roles of father, grandfather, husband, youth soccer coach, and metals service center supervisor. He is a late-in-life writer who promised his twenty-five-year-old self that when the kids grew up, he’d try his hand at putting words on paper. Three years ago, he didn’t know what a lit mag was, and know he’s been published in over fifty of them. His work tends to lean towards grieving and pooping. Usually not in the same works. This is his first chapbook.

"Jason Melvin's ‘Wrong Things' goes for the gross out, but in the sweetest way possible. Through his writing, we see the beauty in a freshly flushed turd. We find poetry in bathroom wall graffiti, and hit a goldmine of nostalgia via a boob mug. Our lives are filled with millions of weird little moments, and Jason has found a way to praise them all." 

— Kimberly Wolf, author of “How the Frogs Get Married" (Bullshit, 2023) 

"‘Wrong Things’ is utterly hilarious and a genuine collection of poetry. It takes a lot for words on a page to really make me laugh, and Jason Melvin does it effortlessly. Doing away with the grandiose and self-aggrandizing style of many of his contemporaries, Melvin focuses on the minutiae of each small moment, digging for the bare truth of it all with language that’s direct and steeped in originality. It’s when a poet doesn’t take themself so seriously that I find work truly worth the read. With self-reflective humor and wit being harder and harder to come by, ‘Wrong Things’ is the pearl beneath an oil spill." 

— Jack Moody, author of “Crooked Smile"

"Melvin is the best case scenario for those who don’t 'get poetry' because he barrels into every poem with the bluntness and honesty that anyone can connect with. It’s popular to shine a literary light onto pop culture, celebrity, or other social circles and use a criticism of them as fuel for writing. It’s harder to shine that light on one’s self and bare your 'graying' body and your grimier internal thoughts onto the page. ‘Wrong Things’ is a contemporary voice of the poet blatantly being themself.” 

— Brandon Noel, Poet + Editor of Olney Magazine