by Gary Zarr
2014.
100 pages
Genre: Poetry
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
My Thoughts:
I stumbled upon this gem as I was browsing through my local public library. A self-published book, it doesn’t seem to be very well known. It has only 3 Amazon reviews and the only review on Goodreads is the brief one that I left.
Having self-published a poetry book myself, I know how frustrating and difficult it is to find people out there who are willing to give such a book a chance. For the sake of self-published poets everywhere, I felt it my duty to see what this book had to offer.
It’s a quick read. There are roughly 43 poems, including the one on the Acknowledgement page. The first poem, Signs, seems to sum up the general theme. It speaks of a hero resting in a cave after many adventures, hoping for “a magical intervention of the universe itself” to guide him forward. His journey is “singular, passionate, rich, yet lonely.” As the hero thinks of the importance of little details that day to day life brings. “he reads each human face, examines every corner and byway of the road. embraces dear friends, touches each tree and animal, gazes into the eyes of lovers, scans the sea and sky.” That last line foreshadows the imagery of the poems ahead.
The poem ends with “and at that moment, he began to dream.” Every poem thereafter seems to fit and flow as this hero’s lucid dreams as the hero sleeps. The next poem that follows is titled Contract Killers and opens “I see the image of a bird flying. Reality is broken.”
I enjoyed reading these poems more and more as I studied them and made the small connections. They are well written with a poetic passion straight from the soul. Easy to read, yet complex enough to spin an intricate web of lucid imagery. My only complaint is that there were so few to read.
Favorite Poems/Lines:
Merlin
It takes
blood
soaked
strength
to turn
anger
into
positive
things.
from Reply to the Star of the New West
yes,
heart mountain,
trees make mistakes too
might get lonely
i suppose
but they’re not really
mistakes,
they are directions,
approaches,
outreaches,
walks we take
with others who are special,
saunterings that end
in surprising,
yet understandable ways,
in separation,
which is inevitable,
and yet always surprises
(it just depends
how deep
the startling cuts
inside you)
Listen to My Heart
We should make a date.
Otherwise it won’t happen.
Life tends to slip
between our fingers
unless we clutch it
tight, squeeze it.
Don’t let it get away
this time.
from Not Fade Away
And as light dies,
we must remember
that the end of a life,
any life,
isn’t all there is to show
Shepherd
I don’t
need
soft
pillows.
Like a shepherd,
on my side,
I cradle
my own meadow,
a broken universe
covered in bones,
incandescent
dreams.
Love
In
this
vast
world
endless
of ours
so little
room
ever left
to fall
out of
love.
Final Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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