Today, I’m offering a two-for-one special on book reviews. These two poetry collections have three things in common. First of all, the authors’ first names start with the same letter. Second, their poetry helps us look at nature and other topics with a sense of wonder. Last but not least, I met both authors through Behind Our Eyes, a writers’ organization to which I belong, and I have enjoyed reading their work over the years.
One Goes to the Sea
by Joan Myles
Copyright 2021
What Smashwords Says
What is it about poetry that so readily connects readers with their Spiritual selves? And is it possible to focus these expanded faculties of perception beyond the page–intentionally, inward?
One Goes to the Sea is a collection of the poet’s waking and sleeping flights of fancy, her dream journal sketched poetically and visually illustrated by her daughter.
My Thoughts
I like the vivid imagery and word play in Joan’s poetry. This collection has a nice mix of rhyming and non-rhyming poetry. The title, One Goes to the Sea, is referenced in her poem, “The Journey,” and it’s easy to see the connection. According to Joan’s bio at the end of the book, she “has always been a child of Wonder as well as a spiritual seeker.” This comes through in her poetry, which I highly recommend, even if you’re not into spirituality.
Dancing with the Seasons: A Year in Simple Verse
by Jo Elizabeth Pinto
Copyright 2022.
What Amazon Says
The fifty-two short poems in Dancing with the Seasons: A Year in Simple Verse are easy to understand, yet rich with emotional and sensory details. Celebrate the vivid, ever-changing beauty of nature in rhythm and rhyme.
My Thoughts
Dancing with the Seasons is a perfect title for this collection. The vivid images in these poems appear to dance across the page. Many of these works reminded me of those in Robert Louis Stevenson’s A Child’s Garden of Verses, which I read often in my younger years.
Although these poems reflect many aspects of the four seasons, they’re not in chronological order from spring through winter, as the subtitle, A Year in Simple Verse, might signify. There’s a nice mix of rhyming and non-rhyming poems.
I could relate to such poems as “The Merciless Heat of July,” and “A Fire on the Mountains,” which took me right back to brutally hot summers when forest fires raged around us. I like how such outdoor phenomenon as the movement and songs of birds and floating leaves are portrayed here. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys nature poetry that’s light and airy and full of wonder.
New! Why Grandma Doesn’t Know Me
Copyright 2021 by Abbie Johnson Taylor.
Independently published with the help of DLD Books.
Sixteen-year-old Natalie’s grandmother, suffering from dementia and confined to a wheelchair, lives in a nursing home and rarely recognizes Natalie. But one Halloween night, she tells her a shocking secret that only she and Natalie’s mother know. Natalie is the product of a one-night stand between her mother, who is a college English teacher, and another professor.
After some research, Natalie learns that people with dementia often have vivid memories of past events. Still not wanting to believe what her grandmother has told her, she finds her biological father online. The resemblance between them is undeniable. Not knowing what else to do, she shows his photo and website to her parents.
Natalie realizes she has some growing up to do. Scared and confused, she reaches out to her biological father, and they start corresponding.
Her younger sister, Sarah, senses their parents’ marital difficulties. At Thanksgiving, when she has an opportunity to see Santa Claus, she asks him to bring them together again. Can the jolly old elf grant her request?
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My Corner 