‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 22, 2016
A provocative and important collection.
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Debut author Skoby offers short, informal insights on living respectfully in the world.
This book’s self-deprecating title doesn’t do justice to its contents. Although the author’s pithy thoughts cover a vast range of topics, few could be considered nonsense; in fact, he explores some of the most vital issues of our time, such as compassion, consumerism, service, and slowing down to really see the world. A slight cheekiness runs through the book, however, as many statements read as provocations, or even as koans, such as “Be careful of those who only see the literal word,” and “Life is full of contradictions….No it isn’t!” Perhaps Skoby’s title is meant to incite doubt in order to open up some space for readers’ own experiences—but this isn’t a difficult or pretentious book. The author uses diverse literary forms to relay his ideas: aphorisms, very short stories, and rhyming and acrostic poems, among others. Some of these phrases could be cross-stitched and hung as quaint samplers: “The fragrance of a flower is beautiful; but the sweetest part is the nectar within. Such is the splendor of a friend.” Others ask readers to stop and reflect: “When I first saw a revolving door, I saw a young man enter, and an elderly man come out. I thought: This is one of the secrets of life!” Still others call for actions: “Teaching my child about mistrust was the most painful injustice of my life. Why must we teach it? Let us stand against it.” There’s a Zen quality to this book, and although the author doesn’t use that or any related term, he does speak of the need for quiet and deliberate observation; for example, one entire page says only: “Silence speaks.” He also broaches the inescapable yet troublesome notion that we all must live among one another: “Your inner conflict, becomes our conflict. This is so, because you live among us.” Spare sketches and drawings by several illustrators, including some that seem to be just a few brush strokes, add to the book’s beauty and apparent simplicity.
A provocative and important collection.Pub Date: Sept. 22, 2016
ISBN: 978-1-4602-9183-2
Page Count: 203
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: Nov. 28, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2017
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by J.C. Salazar ‧ RELEASE DATE: Aug. 1, 2018
A volume of poetry that shines when focused on the author’s experiences of race and culture.
A collection speaks in part to the poet’s Mexican-American heritage.
In these multifaceted poems, Mexico-born, Houston-raised Salazar (Of Dreams and Thorns, 2017) explores general human themes like love and war in addition to specific experiences as a person of color. The book begins with a sensual meditation on desire, featuring luscious descriptions of a lover, from lips “moist like youth” to the body’s “softest velvet” slopes. The poems shift to odes to cultural icons like the Tejano star Selena and Mexican-German painter Frida Kahlo as well as occasion pieces honoring his brother’s 40th birthday and a friend’s mother’s memorial service. The author hits his stride when he delves into identity. In “I Am Not Brown,” he contemplates the societal implications of skin tone and his inability to fit into the rigid category of Caucasian or Latino. “For white and black and brown alike / Are slaves to history’s brush strokes,” he writes. “Grateful for the Work,” perhaps Salazar’s loveliest poem, catalogs the day of a laborer, starting with an early morning awakening and following him as he toils in 100-degree heat, enjoys tacos from his lunch pail, buys beverages from a child’s lemonade stand, and returns home to an equally hard-working wife. The author then makes an abrupt turn toward Syria in a series of poems that condemn that country’s president, Bashar Hafez al-Assad. They serve as a rallying cry for Syrians and grieve for the murdered masses. Salazar’s closing poem, “Sons of Bitches,” is a clunky rant about a 20-year-old immigrant shot in the head by a U.S. Customs and Border Patrol agent. The gratuitous violence and political theologizing are ill at ease with the intimate, personal experiences that preceded them, such as the fablelike “A Mexican is Made of This,” in which Salazar beautifully describes the “rainbows, bronze, backbone, butterflies” that his people embody.
A volume of poetry that shines when focused on the author’s experiences of race and culture.Pub Date: Aug. 1, 2018
ISBN: 978-0-9991496-3-8
Page Count: 166
Publisher: Bronze Diamond Productions
Review Posted Online: Sept. 27, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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by J.C. Salazar
by Kate Lee Diehl illustrated by Kathryn Dimenichi John Powell ‧ RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2015
Poems and images that ask readers to appreciate a searching body for its beauty and grace.
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Diehl’s debut poetry collection showcases the arduous search for human connection and self-understanding.
In free verse poems that combine strong metaphors with prosaic passages, the poet wanders along a lifelong path of self-knowledge. She first describes it as a “pilgrimage…to accept what’s been deemed unworthy inside us,” and the trail leads to important insights. In a plainly stated yet necessary reminder, the author asserts that being human, despite the loneliness one may encounter, “is not a solitary pursuit.” Above all else, the book voices a desire for transparency in the self and in others. In “Clear Stream,” moving water illuminates objects within it, even as mystery waits at the bottom, and the water’s clarity corresponds to the speaker’s offering of his- or herself to view: “Here I am. // Come see me if you want.” Sometimes the tumble of words in these short stanzas suggests a pouring forth of injury: “It’s the show-stopping blow of loss upending a heart pain over pain till capacity for love regulates its beating.” Readers will understand a back story involving love and loss, difficulty in communication, sadness, and acceptance of children growing up. The poems gain strength from well-chosen accompanying images, including sketches and paintings by Dimenichi and colorful works by Jamaican-born painter Powell that enrich the verbal landscape. Several full-page images by each artist appear, suggesting a thematic connection or amplifying an emotion in a given poem. A richly textured, grand illustration of a tree by Dimenichi, for example, appears alongside a poem that celebrates the inspiration of such towering entities. A poem concerned with self-reflection joins a Powell painting of floating, twinned female forms. The figures seem to both depict and satisfy the speaker’s need to be seen, with their emphasis on mirror images, body doubles, and echoes of shapes. Even the windshield of a car can be a “two way mirror” behind which the driver is “invisible to life outside.” An explicitly female body is glimpsed in the sketches, and the warm, dreamlike compositions give it substance.
Poems and images that ask readers to appreciate a searching body for its beauty and grace.Pub Date: July 1, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-304-13091-4
Page Count: 58
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: May 18, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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