For me, ‘Celebrating Poetry’ is a book of life lessons. It inspires you to be wiser, walk away from things that don’t feel right, trust yourself and never look back. Each poem exhorts you to listen to your heart, embrace life as it comes, as “it comes in waves.” The metaphor of “waves” speaks volumes about life. Georgakas borrows many such images from Mother Nature to elucidate the realities of life. It is a marvel how she has compressed the philosophy of life into a few pages of this book.
A combination of blank verse and poetic prose, the tone of her poetry is gentle; her style is conversational, without any embellishments though there are some clichés. It explores various avenues of life and provides an inspiration to “dance through life.” Her positivity shimmers through her words – ”light is always behind the dark cloud.”
It is remarkable that each phrase is complete in itself yet loaded with the wisdom of the world. Look at these lines that made me pause and reflect at the brevity of Georgakas’ style:
“Stay grounded in self.” “Caves open to inner jewels.” “Tears flow back to the ocean.” “We all come from the same seed of light, no matter how dark the night.”
If you want to understand yourself and how life unfolds, this is the book for you.
‘Too Much Fun to Be Legal’ exemplifies that there is no better way to embrace aging than poking fun at your own diminishing abilities and converting them into fun poems. Leonhard and Fox’s creativity coruscates throughout this collaboration. They have knitted all their pains and complaints into the yarn of delightful words to create exquisite poetry.
I could relate to ‘I’m No Poetry Groupie.’ I also like to “hit bad poems on the head with a shovel and bury them in the backyard” but I could never put this thought into such a brilliant phrase. There are many such verses that would bring a smile on your face.
‘My Wacky Friend, Grief’ who sits “in the attic” or “in the breakfast nook” and never goes away is an outstanding poem that touched my heart. A similar strain runs through ‘No Words.’
‘Too Much Snow’ plays with seasons in a charming manner, as “vain spring” is pushed away by “big sister summer.” ‘Unconditional Love’ is hilarious!
Glowing with humor, wisdom and gratitude, these poems present a positive way of looking at life. I must say that everyone must read this book.
I stumbled across this book when I was browsing poetry books and I am glad I decided to read it. True to its name, ‘Rise: Poetry for Lovers and Thinkers’ leaves a profound impact on poetry lovers and exhorts you to introspect. ‘Rise’ is an eloquent symbol that conveys a significant message to humanity.
Thomas’ poetry is drawn with various colors on the canvas that becomes bigger and wider as you keep tapping on the pages. He writes with truth and compassion in his heart and keeps it objective. Some unique imagery has been used to highlight racism and discrimination.
Written in blank verse, this book is divided into five sections, and the mood of the poems changes as their span expands from softer themes to somber ones. ‘A Poetry Love Affair’ beautifully describes the emotional effect that reading poetry produces on the poet. Passionate love, love for music, doubts, regret, lost love to everlasting love – all find a place in this book. Dripping with realism, ‘Love Lullaby’ inspires you to accept the loss and honor the memories of your loved ones.
The poems in the second section Inspire you to know your worth, “to fire yourself,” to celebrate the change. They emphasize that darkness dissipates if we try to change our attitude.
Some of my favorite poems are the ones that express love for Mother Nature – her symphony and visual delight that soothes us. ‘Head in the Clouds’ and ‘Red Rock Heaven’ transport you nearer to the magic of nature. ‘Babbling Brook’ is a superb delight for the senses. I could hear all the sounds through the words. The poems in this section are more rhythmic.
The Philosophical and Social section cries out for equality, harmony and world peace. In a powerful tone, the poet makes a passionate appeal for a world free from injustice, bias and hatred. “The color of our epidermis is only a fraction of our makeup” is a wonderful way to say “look within” to understand human beings. ‘If I Were a Woman’ is a touching tribute to womanhood. An easy and quick read, I would highly recommend this book to all book lovers.
Thank you. Happy reading! Balroop Singh. Here is the Amazon link for my new poetry book.
Poetry attracts me like a honey bee to flowers. Whenever I come across a poetry book, I binge read it. I will not say all of them turn out to be magnificent but I always review those that touch me in a special way. Here are three that I’ve read recently.
‘Pieces of Me’ by Maggie Watson gives voice to all those women who choose to stay in an abusive relationship with the hope of the light that lingers behind the dark clouds, without realizing how they keep empowering their controllers who intimidate with words, belittle them and smother their spirit, inflicting mortal wounds that continue to fester forever.
Poignant yet inspirational, each poem in this book shares Watson’s raw emotions and how she emerged from an oppressive relationship that persistently whittled at her heart. She scoffs at the sacrifices we make for so-called love. The metaphorical dance of lament is a superb way to describe the pain that refuses to ease.
With outstanding imagery like “blisters on my feet,” “risen from the flames,” “in stagnant water,” “bruised apple,” the poet evokes an emotional response from the readers. The image of ‘Roots’ wrenched my heart away and ‘Excavate’ echoed hope, which grows stronger as resilience creeps in.
Written in an effortless style, the poems in this collection offer convincing advice to break the cage and soar into the sky before it is too late. Liberation from cruel circumstances is possible. Highly recommended with five stars.
‘Square Peg in a Round Hole’ by Robbie Cheadle and her son, Michael, is a fabulous amalgamation of syllabic poetry, free verse, art, photography, and micro fiction. It is divided into various sections – each one would touch some chord of your heart.
Cheadle confesses that this collection is the story of her own restless soul, always looking for something new, trying to achieve balance. She feels like a wave, in constant motion. Her creativity shines through her poetry that explores various themes – from flora and fauna to the ocean of life.
From ‘Wild Hoopoe’s’ false impression of freedom to ‘Hold my Hand’, Cheadle’s poetry dwells on various aspects of life exuding positivity despite “the trauma of the past.” Even dark dreams are relegated to background when it comes to accepting life. ‘She Lives and Yet She’s Dead’ is a poignant and powerful comment on acceptance. ‘Frozen Flower’ by Michael stunned me with its metaphorical stature.
Cheadle also shares her outstanding artwork in this book and I had to switch over to my laptop to look at it. The charcoal portrait of a leopard left me spellbound. Equally good is the watercolour painting of a black-maned lion but the drawing of a hippo with its mouth open is breathtaking!
This book is for the home library, to be savored slowly. One reading may not be enough. Five stars!
Sun Haiku by Dawn Pisturino glorifies the sun in various ways; it emerges as a character with a positive force and the poet seems to be mesmerized by “his exotic and magnificent” presence amongst the clouds. Each haiku celebrates his beauty with breathtaking imagery:
rays of sun through clouds open up gates of heaven…
Pisturino paints a spectacular picture with the expressions “pale yellow radiance” of the sun and “raspberry sunset” that warms the bones, eases aching muscles and heals the hearts.
“hot breath of the sun turns green leaves into brown crisps” is the most creative description of the sun that transported me to the land of fantasy – such is the wondrous style of the poet! At the same time she mentions melanoma and calls his gaze “malevolent.” Such a rare combination of realism and imagination!
All the moods of the sun have been captured well – soft as butter, a healer, a life giver, a masterful tyrant, a royal protector of earth etc. I loved each one of them. A fabulous collection.
I liked the bonus stories at the end of the book and my favorite one is Brother Sun, Sister Moon. Five stars!
This week, Lisa is the host for Tanka Tuesday Poetry Challenge. The challenge is ‘Synonyms Only.’ That means we will be using synonyms for the given prompt words: promise and comfort.
I’ve highlighted the synonyms I used. I chose to write a string of dodoitsu.
A dodoitsu is a Japanese form of poetry that is sometimes performed as a folk song. It has 26 syllables: 7 in the first, second and third lines, and 5 in the last line. (7/7/7/5). No rhyming. No title.
Emotional Shadows 