book reviews
Reviews of the best poetry books, collections and anthologies; discover poems and up-and-coming poets across all cultures, genres and themes.
Karen Paul Holmes Creates Attainable Poetry
Poetry as an art form has the (sometimes rather apt) reputation of remaining elusive to the casual reader. Newcomers to the delightful world of verse may become locked in an eternal struggle with the flightiness found in poetry, its teasing winks and abstract whispers of surreal messages. Such conflicts are enough to throw quite obtrusive roadblocks in the path of the apprehensive—albeit curious—reader. No such ethereal opaqueness exists in No Such Thing as Distance. Karen Paul Holmes has created a poetic collection that is not only a successful piece of art, but also accessible to those readers who are not yet poetic scholars (but will be soon enough). The inspiration for these poems were planted in the everyday happenings of a real and vivid life. Then, after years of cultivation, they blossomed into this delicate, yet strong assembly, waiting to be shared with passersby. These writings are fleshy. They grip to the reader like the wisteria which is mused on in "The True Nature of Things." The forms she applies to her pieces are carnal. The winding mountain road beneath Holmes' car in "Soundtrack for Highway 129, Near the Appalachian Trail" becomes real for the reader as the line breaks move to and fro, and the dangerous nature of the road is mirrored by the beautiful and doomed Gilda of Giuseppe Verdi's opera:
By Laura DiNovis Berry8 years ago in Poets
'Milk and Honey' Review
Shopping at my local Walmart for some groceries and some household items, I came across a paperback copy of "milk and honey" by Rupi Kaur. Everyone has been raving about how great this book was and all that jazz. I was intrigued by why everyone loved it so much, that I wanted to check it out myself. I am a huge bookworm, and I have been trying not to buy a single book for a while since my "To Be Read" pile is never ending. When I decide to give in, I then end up buying at least two books. Yes, I know it's a problem, but hey I'm not addicted to drugs or alcohol, I'm addicted to reading and buying books. Completely different. Anyways, back to my story...
By Samantha Popp8 years ago in Poets
'365 Sleepless Nights'
"A restless year. Four hopeless seasons. Fifty-two obsessive weeks. Three hundred and sixty-five sleepless nights. One poetic journal of change, loss, damage, sorrow, healing, good and evil, chaos and peace, helplessness and hope, summarizing a year's evolution of feelings in fifty-two poems feeding consecutive thoughts day by day."
By Viktoria Papp8 years ago in Poets
Ovid's Movement From Mythology
Introduction Through great minds we receive great intellect, but furthermore, greater comprehension of cultural diversity throughout periodical works. We gain the ancient stories of the fulfillment of destinies and the divine interactions interconnecting gods and goddesses with mortal endeavors. We have the privilege to witness what history books do not have the time to divulge: raw evidence of an evolving people beyond invention, but reaching to a higher power, a religious upbringing of a culture constantly seeking the ultimate. While most works focus on the geographical religion of their time, Ovid writes an epic which breaks this model by diminishing the gods and moving towards the glorification of a Roman Empire standing on the foundation of its people, not the chaos of the gods.
By Kayla Starr8 years ago in Poets
Love is...
I regret my inability to overcome the pain of all my disappointments. So I try to live without expectation and there by maintain a threadbare existence. To simply live and to simply give. To look beyond the story of suffering into the truth of love and all the joy that is contained in the overwhelming currents of intimate connection. The story of Shama is the story of myself. The story of the peaceful goddess who exploded into a myriad of pieces and somehow each piece found itself and grew itself a new whole until the old reflection was no longer broken. But complete and unified in its own power. For itself, by itself, this is the nature of my soul. And if you are its reflection than yours too. For I am as timeless as the history of cosmic motion. Universe without beginning and without end. I call upon your higher self to trust again. To suspend all beliefs and concepts and simply trust in the unfathomable depths of each living breath. For it is in the breath that true being emerges. All else is just the containment and therefore sacred only in so far as it reveals the core.
By Crystal Pearl9 years ago in Poets
Charlotte Bronte Changed My Life
My favorite book is Villette by Charlotte Bronte. It's one of the few novels of hers that was not adapted to a BBC miniseries. To be honest, I read a lot of the classics so I could guiltlessly watch their adaptations. It started with Wuthering Heights when I was 13 or so. At that age, I couldn't completely grasp the nuance, but its story impacted me (even after I realized how convoluted and hateable the characters were. Literally all of them.) Yeah, the book is pretty cheesy and outlandish.
By Audrey Wierenga9 years ago in Poets
