The Other Side of Crazy is a collection of poetry exploring the craziness of modern life, including the award-winning poem, “Out of the Blue,” selected by Jean Valentine to win first place in the Bettendorf Public Library’s Love Poem Contest in 2012. Select this link to see a video of Julia Susan singing the poem, part of the prize package for winning.
Praise for The Other Side of Crazy:
–“The trick in The Other Side of Crazy seems to be that it’s a place we cannot access, or perhaps does not exist. These poems are filled with startling images, both strange and commonplace: blood-soaked quilts, burning watches, calendars, thunderstorms, dead skin, pharmaceutical commercials, a bike ride across the emotional terrain of modern life. These poems are littered with interruptions—both internal & external—that are always biting at the heels at this contemporary normalcy & domesticity, and in the end, rather than being resisted or fretted upon or allowed to hold modern life hostage, they are embraced & incorporated into the living and crazy love these poems so deftly reflect.” ~ Ryan Collins
–“In The Other Side of Crazy, Jodie Toohey explores the frailty of relationships and modern life from her own unique perspective. She guides the reader ‘Through the valley/Of vulnerability/…Of agony over/Straits/Of jackets and jars.’ Her poems beat with palpable emotion, fearless and honest, evoking a rich, multi-layered world.” ~ Nancy Ann Schaefer, In Search of Lode
–“In her book, The Other Side of Crazy, poet Jodie Toohey proves to us that still waters do indeed run deep. Her poetry collection proffers a brilliant disturbance of the intellectual mind that reassembles as creative genius.The poet conjures everyday moments of insanity in her work that gift us sanity, and that join all of us in a very human, very creative, coven of mad genius. These poems are like rare, black pearls, simple, beautiful, darkly iridescent, and a little sinister. The Reader wears them in her heart and mind like a badge made of rare jewels that entitles her to a tour through The Other Side of Crazy with poet Toohey as the tour guide.” ~ Ellen Tsagaris, Sappho, I should have listened
–“Poet, author Jodie Toohey exhibits her diverse and creative poetic voice in The Other Side of Crazy. Her poems elicit raw emotions and draw the reader to think about life from a different angle, from the other side of the proverbial box.” ~ Trisha Georgiou, Quartered Enlightenment