A well-executed picture book detailing one path the soul could take.
Herrick (You’re Not Finished Yet, 2011) offers an illustrated explanation of what happens when we die.
Framed as a conversation between young Duncan and his grandmother, this picture book offers Grandma’s view of the soul, death, and heaven. She describes how, when people die, their souls (something that resides deep inside of everyone) float up out of their bodies. Souls are led through a dark tunnel toward a bright light, where they are greeted by the souls of loved ones who have preceded them in death. The souls then reside in heaven for “a very long time,” enjoying themselves and watching over those still living. The story concludes with a “Section For Parents” that includes thoughts on the ways adults should view their own souls. For the most part, the book presents a fairly standard, nondenominational Western view of death and heaven; however, some of these beliefs are of a specific variety that may not appeal to all the faithful. For instance, Herrick suggests that the living and the dead can communicate using a type of electricity and that the dead primarily visit the living in their dreams. She also makes fleeting reference to the presence of “positive ancestors” watching over the living, implying that “negative ancestors” also exist and may or may not be in heaven. The section for parents reveals an even more tailored belief system: Herrick cites Jung in claiming that the soul is “located in the fifth layer of your unconscious.” She also expresses a belief in reincarnation—which seems at odds with the content of the story—asserting that the soul “holds your personality and many other personalities that have come from your past lives.” The illustrations, also by Herrick, are skillfully done in a soft, cartoonish style, portraying some of Grandma’s claims about heaven in a fun, accessible way. Overall, the good-natured book presents a comforting view of the afterlife, though its attractiveness to parents will largely depend on whether they share the same view.
A well-executed picture book detailing one path the soul could take.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2015
ISBN: 978-1500834869
Page Count: 46
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 13, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 15, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A fine anthology of some of the best contemporary poetry around.
Fresh new writers rub elbows with past masters in this scintillating collection of verse.
Under the label “New Neo-Realist,” Lark, editor of the Review of Arts, Literature, Philosophy and the Humanities, assembles a collection of narrative poems that usually feature frank engagement with ordinary life; a modern, colloquial idiom; and emotion leavened by irony, astringency, and flashes of humor. That leaves room for a huge range of subjects, styles, and moods. Erika Meitner’s “Wal-Mart Supercenter” contrasts the stores’ sublime friendliness with the police-blotter hell surrounding them (“A couple tried to sell their six-month-old for twenty-five bucks / to buy meth in the Salinas Walmart parking lot”), and L.W. Milam’s surreal “Tootie Fruit ME and Ass-Grasp LA” invokes “crowds of crying turtles, & / Peasant armies of hymn-singing, drug-ridden geckos.” Christopher Kennedy’s mordantly funny “Riddle of Self-Worth” laments that “My pet vulture has the disconcerting habit of staring / at the clock and then at me”; Howard Nemerov’s lyrical “Goldfish” spotlights the creatures’ “Waving disheveled rags of elegant fin / Languidly in the light”; and Tom Crawford’s “Companion to a Loon” levels a matter-of-fact elegy: “Listen bird, I’m past making death sad. / The tide has no time for wakes / or tragedies. We’re either coming in / or going out.” The volume contains an especially strong set of poems by women, including Kate Gale’s agonized “What I Did Not Tell Anyone,” in which a new mother confides “That I felt my whole family / greedily feeding off me. / That my body felt stolen. / That I felt like Russia during all the wars / troops tramping over me on their way to Moscow,” and Christine Hamm’s bitterly whimsical “Signs You Are Ovulating”: “As you apply mascara / in the bathroom, your eyes slit, / a crow hops onto your shoulder, / and whispers, right here, now.” Lark juxtaposes works by well-known legends, such as Allen Ginsberg, Philip Larkin, e.e. Cummings, and Langston Hughes, as revealing counterpoints to the newer poems. Unlike the strings of cryptic non sequiturs in much Master of Fine Arts—bred poetry, these poems are decidedly reader-friendly without compromising their literary artistry. Along with their inventive language and dazzling metaphor, their accessibility and immediacy pack a wallop.
A fine anthology of some of the best contemporary poetry around.Pub Date: Oct. 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-0-917320-58-3
Page Count: 202
Publisher: MHO & MHO Works
Review Posted Online: July 29, 2015
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A sexy, bittersweet reverie of love relayed in brief, powerful bursts of poetry.
A breathtaking collection of tender poems about love and loss.
Darlington (China Bus, 2017, etc.) is a man of few words, but in this slim book of untitled verse, he proves that those few words are enough. He depicts love as “a feast of goosebumps / laid out for curious taste buds” and “a party / posted signs: / NO RE-ENTRY.” He woos readers with a speaker’s recollections of staying up all night reading The Love Poems of Lord Byron with a beloved and later finding torn-out pages from that volume hidden in other books. Another speaker reminisces about a girl who likes “small tomatoes / as they pop in her mouth / simple cotton undies / and a good pizza crust.” Yet another poem tells of a weekend camping trip, complete with mushroom foraging and a visit from a bear at breakfast. Even when a speaker is in a relationship, he senses its inevitable end; one poem discusses keeping written tabs of a love’s delicious details: “now my house is / full of such notes / so many that in a / strong breeze / they’re like butterflies / releasing from a / garden / each one / some part of you.” When a relationship ends, a sorrowful speaker seeks the advice of the sun, the moon, and the sea in a poem that offers solace but no answers. Darlington is a master of brevity, and each poem in this collection is like a time capsule, packed with nostalgia and sensual description. Of a secretly kept photograph, he writes, “You are flushed from sex and / the afternoon sun runs like butter / down your spine.” Even the sparsest poems are explosively potent, such as: “stay / like this / a moment / our costumes fallen to the floor.” Darlington takes full advantage of white space on the page, effectively playing with line breaks and indents to create a game of hopscotch for the eyes while simultaneously filling the soul.
A sexy, bittersweet reverie of love relayed in brief, powerful bursts of poetry.Pub Date: May 13, 2018
ISBN: 978-1-71905-049-4
Page Count: 70
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: May 29, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
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