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Recommend this book:
On the Occasion of a Wedding
Eclectic Love Poems
Ollie Bowen
2019 Silver Medal
113 Pages
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Poetry - Love/Romance
Reviewed by Divine Zape for Readers' Favorite
On the Occasion of a Wedding: Eclectic Love Poems by Ollie Bowen is a gorgeous collection of love poems and these poems are just awesome, a reflection of the beauty of love. And talking about love, the very first lines of the collection already give readers a taste of what to expect: “its sting / is what makes / it beautiful.” In this collection, readers experience different facets of love, its different expressions, and the emotions that fill the hearts of the personae as they celebrate a moment of love, capture a breath of it, or allow themselves to be transported.
Ollie Bowen’s poetry is designed for lovers; it celebrates the mystery of love, exploring the seasons of hearts that are aflame with love and conveying sentiments in a way that captures the human heart powerfully. The poems explore themes of carnal love, speaking about the “raw feeling of you” and also a love that is spiritual, when the heart looks heavenward, like a baby lifting its face towards a mother. The diction is celebratory, each poem a precious breath — short and succinct — capturing an emotion, a gorgeous thought, a longing, a fulfillment. On the Occasion of a Wedding: Eclectic Love Poems is a gift of love with lines to unwind by, thoughts to share with a loved one, and images that inspire. It is filled with religious symbolism and the exuberance of innocent love. Here is a collection that will thrill and inspire fans of poetry — no matter its kind!
On the Occasion of a Wedding: Eclectic Love Poems by Ollie Bowen is a gorgeous collection of love poems and these poems are just awesome, a reflection of the beauty of love. And talking about love, the very first lines of the collection already give readers a taste of what to expect: “its sting / is what makes / it beautiful.” In this collection, readers experience different facets of love, its different expressions, and the emotions that fill the hearts of the personae as they celebrate a moment of love, capture a breath of it, or allow themselves to be transported.
Ollie Bowen’s poetry is designed for lovers; it celebrates the mystery of love, exploring the seasons of hearts that are aflame with love and conveying sentiments in a way that captures the human heart powerfully. The poems explore themes of carnal love, speaking about the “raw feeling of you” and also a love that is spiritual, when the heart looks heavenward, like a baby lifting its face towards a mother. The diction is celebratory, each poem a precious breath — short and succinct — capturing an emotion, a gorgeous thought, a longing, a fulfillment. On the Occasion of a Wedding: Eclectic Love Poems is a gift of love with lines to unwind by, thoughts to share with a loved one, and images that inspire. It is filled with religious symbolism and the exuberance of innocent love. Here is a collection that will thrill and inspire fans of poetry — no matter its kind!
Recommend this book:
Composition of a Woman
Christine E. Ray
2019 Bronze Medal
210 Pages
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Poetry - Love/Romance
Reviewed by Maria Beltran for Readers' Favorite
Christine E. Ray's Composition of a Woman is a compelling collection of poetry that focuses on a stimulating subject: woman. Composed of five chapters titled Nerve, Brain, Breast, Rib and Blood, this collection is stirringly sincere. Nerve is playful and humorous; 'the transformation/was so slow/so gradual/that I was unaware/that bones had turned glass/' from the poem The Lost Key. In stark contrast, it is followed by the fittingly melancholic and despondent poems of the section on Brain. And as we sadly view the broken pieces of a woman around us, the tactile and sensuous poems in Breast slowly start by stirring our hearts and reminding us of that woozy and wobbly feeling of being truly in love. Nostalgic and lonesome, the Rib poems are both painful and beautiful while the poems in the final chapter called Blood try to unify the kindred spirits with an enigmatic smile.
Composition of a Woman by Christine E. Ray is a book of poetry and prose written by a woman about women. Christine Ray certainly has something to say and she's saying it in a voice that is unique, humorous and provocative, also poignant. It is an extraordinary voice that describes, dissects and debates the quintessence of being a woman, that beautiful creature that can be vulnerable or powerful, but always beautiful. And while we go on a fascinating journey in a woman's mind, body, and soul through these poems, the experience is thought provoking and fascinating, like every woman should be!
Christine E. Ray's Composition of a Woman is a compelling collection of poetry that focuses on a stimulating subject: woman. Composed of five chapters titled Nerve, Brain, Breast, Rib and Blood, this collection is stirringly sincere. Nerve is playful and humorous; 'the transformation/was so slow/so gradual/that I was unaware/that bones had turned glass/' from the poem The Lost Key. In stark contrast, it is followed by the fittingly melancholic and despondent poems of the section on Brain. And as we sadly view the broken pieces of a woman around us, the tactile and sensuous poems in Breast slowly start by stirring our hearts and reminding us of that woozy and wobbly feeling of being truly in love. Nostalgic and lonesome, the Rib poems are both painful and beautiful while the poems in the final chapter called Blood try to unify the kindred spirits with an enigmatic smile.
Composition of a Woman by Christine E. Ray is a book of poetry and prose written by a woman about women. Christine Ray certainly has something to say and she's saying it in a voice that is unique, humorous and provocative, also poignant. It is an extraordinary voice that describes, dissects and debates the quintessence of being a woman, that beautiful creature that can be vulnerable or powerful, but always beautiful. And while we go on a fascinating journey in a woman's mind, body, and soul through these poems, the experience is thought provoking and fascinating, like every woman should be!
Recommend this book:
When Love Rises
Michelle G Stradford
2019 Honorable Mention
Kindle Edition
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Poetry - Love/Romance
Reviewed by Sefina Hawke for Readers' Favorite
When Love Rises by Michelle G Stradford is a contemporary poetry book which would appeal most to young adults and adults who love poetry as well as romance lovers. The book holds a diverse collection of contemporary poetry and reflections that explore the many different sides of love. The author explores themes like heartbreak, new love, and reliving past love. The book is split into three sections that divide the poems into the categories of love rising, in the dark, and the light. Are you ready for your very soul to be touched by the emotions these poems evoke during reading?
When Love Rises by Michelle G Stradford is a well-written poetry collection that I found myself getting wrapped up in very quickly. I really liked that the author did not force the poems to all be long poems, but rather wrote each poem to the perfect length for both the topic and the emotion that the poem was meant to express. So many authors ruin their poems by trying to force them to be longer than they should be so I was much relieved to find that was not the case with these masterpieces. My favorite poem in the book was “Summer”; the poem was so vivid that I could really picture it in my head and it felt like there could be a whole story behind the poem. Overall, this book took me on an emotional rollercoaster as each poem truly showed me a different side of love and each one was imbued with such emotion that I felt like I could connect to each poem on a personal level.
When Love Rises by Michelle G Stradford is a contemporary poetry book which would appeal most to young adults and adults who love poetry as well as romance lovers. The book holds a diverse collection of contemporary poetry and reflections that explore the many different sides of love. The author explores themes like heartbreak, new love, and reliving past love. The book is split into three sections that divide the poems into the categories of love rising, in the dark, and the light. Are you ready for your very soul to be touched by the emotions these poems evoke during reading?
When Love Rises by Michelle G Stradford is a well-written poetry collection that I found myself getting wrapped up in very quickly. I really liked that the author did not force the poems to all be long poems, but rather wrote each poem to the perfect length for both the topic and the emotion that the poem was meant to express. So many authors ruin their poems by trying to force them to be longer than they should be so I was much relieved to find that was not the case with these masterpieces. My favorite poem in the book was “Summer”; the poem was so vivid that I could really picture it in my head and it felt like there could be a whole story behind the poem. Overall, this book took me on an emotional rollercoaster as each poem truly showed me a different side of love and each one was imbued with such emotion that I felt like I could connect to each poem on a personal level.
Recommend this book:
 by Sherrill S. Cannon. Life is full of love and loss, but at times we experience our feelings and emotions so intensely, we can't put them into words. Allow the soft fluidity of the ...){kind=link}
A Dime is a Sign
Poems of Love and Loss (Feelings Into Words)
Sherrill S Cannon
2019 Finalist
186 Pages
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Poetry - Love/Romance
Reviewed by Alyssa Elmore for Readers' Favorite
Envelop yourself in the tenderly flowing words of romantic poetry in the unforgettably lyrical collection, A Dime Is A Sign: Poems of Love & Loss (Feelings Into Words) by Sherrill S. Cannon. Life is full of love and loss, but at times we experience our feelings and emotions so intensely, we can't put them into words. Allow the soft fluidity of the gentle poetry to caress your soul and bring comfort to your mind as you read through the sublime sonnets, poems, haiku, blank verse, and free-flowing verses. Each poem is meant to help convey a moment of deep emotion, and speak straight to the soul to help you better process each unique stage of love you experience. The delicately soothing words invite you to float lightly among the author's words and get lost in love.
A Dime Is A Sign: Poems of Love & Loss (Feelings Into Words) by Sherrill S. Cannon is a breathtaking book of romantic poetry. As a school teacher, wife of fifty-eight years, mother, and grandmother, Cannon has lived her words, writing them down throughout the years to help counsel teens and friends through love and heartache. Love and romance are beautiful, but loss can be tragically painful. We often ask ourselves, "Is it worth the pain to love?" The poems in this collection have answered with a resounding, "yes." The words moved me. Every word of every line held beauty and meaning. The poetry is based on the different stages of love -- from young, new love, to older forbidden love -- and the verses in this book were written to speak to both young teens and older adults.
Envelop yourself in the tenderly flowing words of romantic poetry in the unforgettably lyrical collection, A Dime Is A Sign: Poems of Love & Loss (Feelings Into Words) by Sherrill S. Cannon. Life is full of love and loss, but at times we experience our feelings and emotions so intensely, we can't put them into words. Allow the soft fluidity of the gentle poetry to caress your soul and bring comfort to your mind as you read through the sublime sonnets, poems, haiku, blank verse, and free-flowing verses. Each poem is meant to help convey a moment of deep emotion, and speak straight to the soul to help you better process each unique stage of love you experience. The delicately soothing words invite you to float lightly among the author's words and get lost in love.
A Dime Is A Sign: Poems of Love & Loss (Feelings Into Words) by Sherrill S. Cannon is a breathtaking book of romantic poetry. As a school teacher, wife of fifty-eight years, mother, and grandmother, Cannon has lived her words, writing them down throughout the years to help counsel teens and friends through love and heartache. Love and romance are beautiful, but loss can be tragically painful. We often ask ourselves, "Is it worth the pain to love?" The poems in this collection have answered with a resounding, "yes." The words moved me. Every word of every line held beauty and meaning. The poetry is based on the different stages of love -- from young, new love, to older forbidden love -- and the verses in this book were written to speak to both young teens and older adults.
Recommend this book:
Poetry and Pearls
Romantic Poetry volume 1
N.R. Hart
2017 Gold Medal
238 Pages
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Poetry - Love/Romance
Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite
Poetry and Pearls is the first volume in a series of Romantic Poetry Collections by N.R. Hart, a heartwarming collection of poems that will delight readers, recalling some of the exquisite emotions and moments of love they have had. The poems are written to reflect the varying seasons of the year, but these seasons are symbolic of the “movements” and “moments” of the heart. Here are poems that explore romantic themes — intimacy, sensuality, giving, emotional freedom, pain and pleasure. Each poem is short, written on a symbolic image. At times they read like a statement, a sudden revelation caught in the hiatus of time.
I loved many of the poems and the way they capture the rich humanity of the poet. Here is one of my favorites:
“Our eyes recognized
each other
the very first time
as if holding secrets
for a thousand lifetimes.”
N.R. Hart is a poet who pays attention to the rhythm of the heart. She writes in the language of intimacy and uses a conversational tone in her poems that will absorb the reader and pull them in powerfully. This is a poet who can “carve” her “initials” into the hearts of her readers with the beauty of her words. The poems are highly emotional — each captures a moment, a gesture; a sign of life, of affection, of desire and longing. Poetry and Pearls is a gorgeous offering for readers who enjoy short poems loaded with insight and witticism. I found most of the poems very enjoyable and could read and feel my heart in most of the lines.
Poetry and Pearls is the first volume in a series of Romantic Poetry Collections by N.R. Hart, a heartwarming collection of poems that will delight readers, recalling some of the exquisite emotions and moments of love they have had. The poems are written to reflect the varying seasons of the year, but these seasons are symbolic of the “movements” and “moments” of the heart. Here are poems that explore romantic themes — intimacy, sensuality, giving, emotional freedom, pain and pleasure. Each poem is short, written on a symbolic image. At times they read like a statement, a sudden revelation caught in the hiatus of time.
I loved many of the poems and the way they capture the rich humanity of the poet. Here is one of my favorites:
“Our eyes recognized
each other
the very first time
as if holding secrets
for a thousand lifetimes.”
N.R. Hart is a poet who pays attention to the rhythm of the heart. She writes in the language of intimacy and uses a conversational tone in her poems that will absorb the reader and pull them in powerfully. This is a poet who can “carve” her “initials” into the hearts of her readers with the beauty of her words. The poems are highly emotional — each captures a moment, a gesture; a sign of life, of affection, of desire and longing. Poetry and Pearls is a gorgeous offering for readers who enjoy short poems loaded with insight and witticism. I found most of the poems very enjoyable and could read and feel my heart in most of the lines.
Recommend this book:
Escape from Samsara
Poems
Vijay R. Nathan
2017 Honorable Mention
70 Pages
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Poetry - Love/Romance
Reviewed by Faridah Nassozi for Readers' Favorite
Escape from Samsara by Vijay R. Nathan is a collection of poems that touch on several aspects of life including love, life, purpose, spirituality, and everything inbetween, intended to guide your soul to spiritual enlightenment. The pivotal aim of the collection is to enable your spiritual transformation so you can ascend above the materialism of modern day life, and free your mind. This way, you are ready to receive enlightenment so you can discover and achieve your purpose.
Vijay R. Nathan drew inspiration from everyday events, making the poems more relatable and easier to internalize. The unique and fresh style of poetry used will draw you in and urge you on, submerging your mind completely in the enchantment and thrill of the words. Each poem is unique in both wording and meaning, and together they blend into one to deliver a profound message to set you on your journey to achieving complete fulfillment through spiritual illumination. Through very simple words and an effortless style, Vijay R. Nathan delivered poems with a lot of depth and inspiration. There is always so much happening in our lives every day, and the hectic nature of this lifestyle can easily take over your entire life. Reading the poems in Escape from Samsara by Vijay R. Nathan gives your mind much-needed serenity, away from the demands of modern life, and sets you on the path to enlightenment and fulfillment. The poems will indulge your mind and push you to soar above the never-ending demands of a demanding lifestyle.
Escape from Samsara by Vijay R. Nathan is a collection of poems that touch on several aspects of life including love, life, purpose, spirituality, and everything inbetween, intended to guide your soul to spiritual enlightenment. The pivotal aim of the collection is to enable your spiritual transformation so you can ascend above the materialism of modern day life, and free your mind. This way, you are ready to receive enlightenment so you can discover and achieve your purpose.
Vijay R. Nathan drew inspiration from everyday events, making the poems more relatable and easier to internalize. The unique and fresh style of poetry used will draw you in and urge you on, submerging your mind completely in the enchantment and thrill of the words. Each poem is unique in both wording and meaning, and together they blend into one to deliver a profound message to set you on your journey to achieving complete fulfillment through spiritual illumination. Through very simple words and an effortless style, Vijay R. Nathan delivered poems with a lot of depth and inspiration. There is always so much happening in our lives every day, and the hectic nature of this lifestyle can easily take over your entire life. Reading the poems in Escape from Samsara by Vijay R. Nathan gives your mind much-needed serenity, away from the demands of modern life, and sets you on the path to enlightenment and fulfillment. The poems will indulge your mind and push you to soar above the never-ending demands of a demanding lifestyle.
Recommend this book:
 by Greatest Poet Alive is a book of poetry. This was a first for me as I normally do not read poetry books, but I wanted to try this. The poetry varies in that some poems are just a line or two and others are much longer. There were a lot of poems I could relate to an...){kind=link}
Angelica's Box
A Poetically Sober Psychotic Break, Pizzle's Trilogy of Insanity
Greatest Poet Alive
2016 Silver Medal
Kindle Edition
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Poetry - Love/Romance
Reviewed by Siobhan Quinlan for Readers' Favorite
Angelica's Box: A Poetically Sober Psychotic Break (Pizzle's Trilogy of Insanity) by Greatest Poet Alive is a book of poetry. This was a first for me as I normally do not read poetry books, but I wanted to try this. The poetry varies in that some poems are just a line or two and others are much longer. There were a lot of poems I could relate to and I found the writing to be beautiful. I found the humor to be very interesting and witty. Just after the Epilogue there was a little line that made me laugh a lot.
Angelica's Box: A Poetically Sober Psychotic Break (Pizzle's Trilogy of Insanity) by Greatest Poet Alive brings humor in a way I did not think was possible with poems. A few small drawbacks include the lack of capital letters at the start of some sentences and the amount of blank space on a lot of pages that I feel could have been filled with illustrations or maybe placing two smaller poems on the pages together. However, I really enjoyed the majority of the poems and it was a very fast read. I was able to fly through it in one sitting pretty quickly. I enjoyed the writing and it kept me interested throughout. I highly recommend this to lovers of poetry and people just starting to read poetry.
Angelica's Box: A Poetically Sober Psychotic Break (Pizzle's Trilogy of Insanity) by Greatest Poet Alive is a book of poetry. This was a first for me as I normally do not read poetry books, but I wanted to try this. The poetry varies in that some poems are just a line or two and others are much longer. There were a lot of poems I could relate to and I found the writing to be beautiful. I found the humor to be very interesting and witty. Just after the Epilogue there was a little line that made me laugh a lot.
Angelica's Box: A Poetically Sober Psychotic Break (Pizzle's Trilogy of Insanity) by Greatest Poet Alive brings humor in a way I did not think was possible with poems. A few small drawbacks include the lack of capital letters at the start of some sentences and the amount of blank space on a lot of pages that I feel could have been filled with illustrations or maybe placing two smaller poems on the pages together. However, I really enjoyed the majority of the poems and it was a very fast read. I was able to fly through it in one sitting pretty quickly. I enjoyed the writing and it kept me interested throughout. I highly recommend this to lovers of poetry and people just starting to read poetry.
Recommend this book:
![](http://pinterest.com/pin/create/button/?url=/book-award/stardust-and-fire&media=https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/41xGT3YHj2L._SL442_.jpg._AA200_.jpg&description=Tracy A. Seiden’s Stardust and Fire: Tales of a Hopeful Romantic comprises a collection of seventy-one poems about the many varying aspects of heterosexual love, passion, desire, attraction and romance. The first of the short pieces, "Childhood Forever," comes close to conventional rhyming poetry, but it is the only one that does. It serves almos...){kind=link}
Stardust and Fire
Tales of a Hopeful Romantic
Tracy A. Seiden
2016 Honorable Mention
92 Pages
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Poetry - Love/Romance
Reviewed by Sarah Stuart for Readers' Favorite
Tracy A. Seiden’s Stardust and Fire: Tales of a Hopeful Romantic comprises a collection of seventy-one poems about the many varying aspects of heterosexual love, passion, desire, attraction and romance. The first of the short pieces, "Childhood Forever," comes close to conventional rhyming poetry, but it is the only one that does. It serves almost as an introduction to the rest, which encompass the thoughts, dreams and longings of women of any age. These are all free verse: some divided into sections and others that Ms Seiden simply allows to flow.
Stardust and Fire: Tales of a Hopeful Romantic is a title that captured my imagination before I opened the book and read a single word. Tracy A. Seiden held my attention; every poem led me on to the next. “Dance” is so incredibly expressive it truly does dance, as do all the pieces involving dancing. In Divine Love, the woman encourages her man to be protective, and “fuels him to be the man he was meant to be.” "Peace of the Soul" echoes that theme. "Stardust" is thirty-eight flowing words, clever and utterly different. "Fire," the other title word, is best expressed in "Warrior on Fire." There is eroticism too in "Heaven’s Door," "Black Magic Symphony," and "Did He Feel It."
The surprise was "Dark Wings Broken." My personal favourite is "Don’t," a clever contradiction, or is it "A Winter’s Queen," or "Reflections" and “life is a cycle, never ending”? The contention for a favourite is powerful in Stardust and Fire, and Ms Seiden expresses herself as a “hopeful romantic” in every poem.
Tracy A. Seiden’s Stardust and Fire: Tales of a Hopeful Romantic comprises a collection of seventy-one poems about the many varying aspects of heterosexual love, passion, desire, attraction and romance. The first of the short pieces, "Childhood Forever," comes close to conventional rhyming poetry, but it is the only one that does. It serves almost as an introduction to the rest, which encompass the thoughts, dreams and longings of women of any age. These are all free verse: some divided into sections and others that Ms Seiden simply allows to flow.
Stardust and Fire: Tales of a Hopeful Romantic is a title that captured my imagination before I opened the book and read a single word. Tracy A. Seiden held my attention; every poem led me on to the next. “Dance” is so incredibly expressive it truly does dance, as do all the pieces involving dancing. In Divine Love, the woman encourages her man to be protective, and “fuels him to be the man he was meant to be.” "Peace of the Soul" echoes that theme. "Stardust" is thirty-eight flowing words, clever and utterly different. "Fire," the other title word, is best expressed in "Warrior on Fire." There is eroticism too in "Heaven’s Door," "Black Magic Symphony," and "Did He Feel It."
The surprise was "Dark Wings Broken." My personal favourite is "Don’t," a clever contradiction, or is it "A Winter’s Queen," or "Reflections" and “life is a cycle, never ending”? The contention for a favourite is powerful in Stardust and Fire, and Ms Seiden expresses herself as a “hopeful romantic” in every poem.
Recommend this book:
Markings in the Cave
Verse by Paul Tait
Paul Tait
2016 Finalist
80 Pages
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Poetry - Love/Romance
Reviewed by Joel R. Dennstedt for Readers' Favorite
Markings in the Cave, a brilliant collection of short poems by Paul Tait, is a profoundly personal selection of one man’s musings – perhaps unheard by the silently attentive universe that he addresses. A theme emerges from these plaintive ruminations of the soul – an unusual, contrapuntal theme told in both harmonic and discordant tones – that seems to stress a tenuous but ever-present tension between the suffering in the world and the hope embedded in religion, with a frequent interjection and nod to the comforting distortion of personal spirituality.
These poems are concise and often highly structured, but like a waterfall over boulders they always flow. The verse often ranges from the subliminal to the sublime, evoking from the wreckage of an imperfect world the possibility of hope and sacred redemption, though always with a shred of doubt. Whether pondering the elusive state of marriage or the illusive promises of death, the poetry resonates with both raw and ethereal truths that are almost fully realized, but fortunately not quite.
Paul Tait has created from his musings in Markings in the Cave a perfect and exquisite minor gem on which to gaze and from which to reflect on one’s own fallible existence in this world. Have we been abandoned to our lowly selves by our Creator, leaving us with the question asked in I Need the Moon to Renew my Eyes: Or are all God’s given gifts/Interminable rifts/With the sovereignty of man? Must we despair, as offered in The Haunted Face of the Soul You Deserted: You are not prepared – you cannot divert it/The haunted face of the soul you deserted. Must we proclaim as one man does in Empty Net: Still, I can’t help needing/What I haven’t got.
The poet is not afraid to include a subtle rhyme or two to make his poetry sing, but every rhyme is situated perfectly within the rhythm of its verse, and these poems would be much the less without them. I feel very fortunate to have chanced upon this poetry.
Markings in the Cave, a brilliant collection of short poems by Paul Tait, is a profoundly personal selection of one man’s musings – perhaps unheard by the silently attentive universe that he addresses. A theme emerges from these plaintive ruminations of the soul – an unusual, contrapuntal theme told in both harmonic and discordant tones – that seems to stress a tenuous but ever-present tension between the suffering in the world and the hope embedded in religion, with a frequent interjection and nod to the comforting distortion of personal spirituality.
These poems are concise and often highly structured, but like a waterfall over boulders they always flow. The verse often ranges from the subliminal to the sublime, evoking from the wreckage of an imperfect world the possibility of hope and sacred redemption, though always with a shred of doubt. Whether pondering the elusive state of marriage or the illusive promises of death, the poetry resonates with both raw and ethereal truths that are almost fully realized, but fortunately not quite.
Paul Tait has created from his musings in Markings in the Cave a perfect and exquisite minor gem on which to gaze and from which to reflect on one’s own fallible existence in this world. Have we been abandoned to our lowly selves by our Creator, leaving us with the question asked in I Need the Moon to Renew my Eyes: Or are all God’s given gifts/Interminable rifts/With the sovereignty of man? Must we despair, as offered in The Haunted Face of the Soul You Deserted: You are not prepared – you cannot divert it/The haunted face of the soul you deserted. Must we proclaim as one man does in Empty Net: Still, I can’t help needing/What I haven’t got.
The poet is not afraid to include a subtle rhyme or two to make his poetry sing, but every rhyme is situated perfectly within the rhythm of its verse, and these poems would be much the less without them. I feel very fortunate to have chanced upon this poetry.
Recommend this book:
A Nashville Woman
And Other Sorrows
Dan Jewell
2015 Bronze Medal
68 Pages
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Poetry - Love/Romance
Reviewed by Lorelai Rivers for Readers' Favorite
A Nashville Woman and Other Sorrows: Music City Poems contains a set list of poems that at first are about a woman, but end up being about Nashville itself -- not the glitzy Hollywood version, but the real, soul-crushing toil of the Music City. Not so much dark as filled with melancholy, these poems ring true, as though author Dan Jewel has first-hand experience with the hope and heartbreak of being a working, or non-working, musician/songwriter. Like a country song, each poem tells a story or exposes the inside of a moment in life. This is poetry, but accessible. An excerpt from "The Academic Poet" explains it best:
"But I damn sure won't be using shells of obscurity,
Or rhetorical ambiguity,
Or any other elitist hermetic techniques
To alienate any reader who would pay me the honor
Of reading what I write.
Poetry is a lot less than that,
And much more."
I read these poems straight through like a novel, and then read my favorites again. In just a few lines or a phrase, each entry in A Nashville Woman and Other Sorrows: Music City Poems made me feel a part of the moment and full of yearning. These snippets of life, feelings, moments, scenes, and snapshots read to me like an epic song put together with the best book openings and chapter closings from every great novel never yet written. Dan Jewel's poems are arguably sad, each in some way dealing with being worn down and burned out from striving, never quite fulfilled. But they are also solid and purposeful, with an underlying point that the people who experience burn-out are the ones who were first on fire.
A Nashville Woman and Other Sorrows: Music City Poems contains a set list of poems that at first are about a woman, but end up being about Nashville itself -- not the glitzy Hollywood version, but the real, soul-crushing toil of the Music City. Not so much dark as filled with melancholy, these poems ring true, as though author Dan Jewel has first-hand experience with the hope and heartbreak of being a working, or non-working, musician/songwriter. Like a country song, each poem tells a story or exposes the inside of a moment in life. This is poetry, but accessible. An excerpt from "The Academic Poet" explains it best:
"But I damn sure won't be using shells of obscurity,
Or rhetorical ambiguity,
Or any other elitist hermetic techniques
To alienate any reader who would pay me the honor
Of reading what I write.
Poetry is a lot less than that,
And much more."
I read these poems straight through like a novel, and then read my favorites again. In just a few lines or a phrase, each entry in A Nashville Woman and Other Sorrows: Music City Poems made me feel a part of the moment and full of yearning. These snippets of life, feelings, moments, scenes, and snapshots read to me like an epic song put together with the best book openings and chapter closings from every great novel never yet written. Dan Jewel's poems are arguably sad, each in some way dealing with being worn down and burned out from striving, never quite fulfilled. But they are also solid and purposeful, with an underlying point that the people who experience burn-out are the ones who were first on fire.
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