What others are saying:
"In his book, as in books of poems written in poetic forms and free verse, language moves through a pattern, and the basic organizing unit is the line. In tombboy, the line may be a syllable, a sign, an image, or even a dot... Readers may rightfully assume that many, even all the poems in tombboy are anti-war poems... yet it would be inaccurate to infer these concrete poems are doctrinaire, or purely political. Nor are they autobiographical. But they are personal, intuitive, original, and memorable, each with something to show..."
- Peter Mladinic, author of House Sitting, Knives on the Table and many other books
"tombboy is filled with an experimental spirit, combining fearless phrasing with satirical madness. The result is a fascinating examination of the human condition... it seems there are no limits to his masterful creativity. Each page of this book will grab your attention. tombboy deserves a prominent spot on your bookshelf."
- Roberta Beach Jacobson, editor of Five Fleas Itchy Poetry and smols poetry journal
Author Bio: Mykyta Ryzhykh, an author from Ukraine, now lives in Tromso, Norway. He was nominated (several times) for a Pushcart Prize and Touchstone Award and received a Ukrainian presidential scholarship for young authors. In 2022 he received a Ukrainian bachelor's degree in journalism and communications. In the same year his Ukrainian-language collection of poems "Liber liberi", was published in Gerda publishing. Mykyta was also a co-founder and curator of the literary competition #???????i?i? (#withoutspaces) for Ukrainian teenagers.
His publishing credits include many literary magazines in Ukrainian and English: Tipton Poetry Journal, Stone Poetry Journal, Neologism Poetry Journal, Shot Glass Journal, QLRS, The Crank, Chronogram, Monday mag, Occulum, Cerasus Poetry Magazine, Sarka, Cacti Fur, Backchannels journal, Apocalipse confidential, Grey Sparrow Journal, O2 Haiku Literary Magazine, Packingtown Review, Mobius: The Journal of Social Change, The Rabbit, The Inflectionist Review, Eunoia Review, Chewers & Masticadores, Masticadores USA, Feed the holy, The Big Windows Review, Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, Third Wednesday, Dialogist, Consequence, Cool Beans Lit, WordCity Literary Journal, Poets Choice, BarBar, Slant: A Journal of Poetry, The Piker Press, Open: Journal of Arts & Letters, Orbis, Litbreak Magazine, Monterey Poetry Review, Pato journal, Five Fleas Itchy Poetry, Ranger magazine, Bending Genres Journal, Rat's Ass Review, Cajun Mutt Press, Ice Floe Press, minor literatures, Audience Askew Literary Journal, Open Sewers, Tokyo poetry journal, Spirit Fire Review, The Gravity of the Thing, Ballast Journal, Star 82 Review and others.
Mykyta's two-lines verse (pr. published Password journal) was used as the title of a philosophical article by Terence Rajivan Edward (University of Manchester, PhD):
"Children's town
No one to fix a toy"
