This precise, melodious poem about two ancient civilizations could benefit from notes for the uninitiated.
This first part of an epic poem introduces the royal families of ancient Greece and India and reveals their burden of responsibility.
This ambitious debut work seeks to reanimate the worlds of two very different ancient civilizations over the course of 24 books. Part 1 consists of the first eight books in the series and opens in Greece with an envoy arriving at King Solon’s palace with news of a great flood. Instructing a disgruntled Prince Diokles to watch over his lands, Solon gathers his troops and, at sunrise, heads east for the flood zone. Accompanied by Meletus, a great fighter, and his son, Elasus, Solon aims to provide aid to the poor souls whose world has been crushed by the wrath of Poseidon. They meet Alanam, a wise old man who tells of how thieves descended on his town, slit his wife’s throat, and took his son. On learning this, Meletus vows to return Alanam’s son and seek revenge. The narrative then shifts to India and introduces the royal family headed by King Sarvagya, including Queen Radhasati, Prince Dharmajyoti, and princesses Esha and Isani, whose luxuriant lives at first seem effortless, yet appearances prove deceptive. Set in the period following the Trojan War and the flood of Dwaraka, this poem may be difficult to follow for those unfamiliar with Greek mythology and the Sanskrit epic of ancient India, the Mahabharata. Background information is not forthcoming, and Bhattacharya’s text would greatly benefit from annotation. But the language is richly detailed and evocative of classic epic poetry, from Beowulf to Gilgamesh. When describing the “Dark Riders,” a band of feared warriors, the poet writes: “The faces—horrid faces—that are scarred / With marks and scabs that bleed a ghostly pus / As white as snow when struck with jagged spears, / The bane of gods that gave them death in life.” The passage is utterly captivating and draws parallels with Milton’s revered description of archfiend Lucifer in Paradise Lost. Bhattacharya is a talented and elegant writer who is breaking new ground by fashioning an epic poem from this little-known story. Illustrated throughout with full-color artwork by debut illustrator Fabre, the result is a lavishly described adventure that spans continents.
This precise, melodious poem about two ancient civilizations could benefit from notes for the uninitiated.Pub Date: Nov. 11, 2018
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 122
Publisher: Global Academy of Population Health
Review Posted Online: May 22, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
An emotional, captivating Christian story in verse.
Heidish (A Misplaced Woman, 2016, etc.) presents an account of St. Francis of Assisi’s life, as told from his father’s perspective in poetic form.
St. Francis is known as a saint who believed in living the Gospel, gave sermons to birds, and tamed a wolf. Over the course of 84 poems, Heidish tells her own fictionalized version of the saint’s journey. In his youth, Francesco is an apprentice of his father, Pietro Bernardone, a fabric importer. The boy is a sensitive dreamer and nature lover who sees “natural holiness in every living thing.” As an adult, Francesco decides to pursue knighthood, but God warns him to “Go back, child / Serve the master.” He joins the Church of San Damiano, steals his father’s storeroom stock, and sells it to rebuild the church. His furious father chains him in the cellar, and the bishop orders Francesco to repay the debt. Afterward, father and son stop speaking to each other; Francesco becomes a healer of the sick and a proficient preacher. After failing to broker a peace agreement during wartime, Francesco falls into depression and resigns his church position. He retreats to the mountains and eventually dies; it’s only then that Pietro becomes a true follower of St. Francis: “You are the father now and I the son / learning still what it means to be a saint,” he says. Heidish’s decision to tell this story from Pietro’s perspective is what makes this oft-told legend seem fresh again. She uses superb similes and metaphors; for example, at different points, she writes that St. Francis had eyes like “lit wicks” and a spirit that “shone like a clean copper pot.” In another instance, she describes the Church of San Damiano as a place in which “walls crumbled / like stale dry bread.” Following the poems, the author also offers a thorough and engaging historical summary of the real life of St. Francis, which only adds further context and depth to the tale.
An emotional, captivating Christian story in verse.Pub Date: Feb. 23, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9905262-1-6
Page Count: 146
Publisher: Dolan & Associates
Review Posted Online: April 19, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A poignant collection by a talented poet still in search of one defining voice.
A debut volume of poetry explores love and war.
Divided into four sections, Osaki’s book covers vast emotional territories. Section 1, entitled “Walking Back the Cat,” is a reflection on youthful relationships both familial and romantic. “Dying Arts,” the second part, is an examination of war and its brutal consequences. But sections three and four, named “Tradecraft” and “Best Evidence” respectively, do not appear to group poems by theme. The collection opens with “My Father Holding Squash,” one of Osaki’s strongest poems. It introduces the poet’s preoccupation with ephemera—particularly old photographs and letters. Here he describes a photo that is “several years old” of his father in his garden. Osaki muses that an invisible caption reads: “Look at this, you poetry-writing / jackass. Not everything I raise is useless!” The squash is described as “bearable fruit,” wryly hinting that the poet son is considered somewhat less bearable in his father’s eyes. Again, in the poem “Photograph,” Osaki is at his best, sensuously describing a shot of a young woman and the fleeting nature of that moment spent with her: “I know only that I was with her / in a room years ago, and that the sun filtering / into that room faded instantly upon striking the floor.” Wistful nostalgia gives way to violence in “Dying Arts.” Poems such as “Preserve” present a battleground dystopia: “Upturned graves and craters / to swim in when it rains. / Small children shake skulls / like rattles, while older ones carve rifles / out of bone.” Meanwhile, “Silver Star” considers the act of escorting the coffin of a dead soldier home, and “Gun Song” ruminates on owning a weapon to protect against home invasion. The language is more jagged here but powerfully unsettling nonetheless. The collection boasts a range of promising poetic voices, but they do not speak to one another, a common pitfall found in debuts. “Walking Back the Cat” is outstanding in its refined attention to detail; the sections following it read as though they have been produced by two or more other poets. Nevertheless, this is thoughtful, timely writing that demands further attention.
A poignant collection by a talented poet still in search of one defining voice.Pub Date: Jan. 31, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-984198-32-7
Page Count: 66
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: June 26, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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