A thought-provoking, if occasionally incomprehensible, study of mystical reality.
A book of prose and poetry explores the scientific roots of spiritual experience.
Bjerken’s love of physics is apparent in the first of six essays in this densely written book, “OR, An Alternative,” which defines a “mystical experience” as “a personal involvement in a physical property of the universe.” But the natural beginning of the collection occurs in the fifth essay. Entitled “My Introduction,” it echoes the structure of the whole work by blending poetry and prose in an autobiography that is both rambling and terse. Thus, Bjerken juxtaposes “Crawled, out of swamp, and I rested” with “My father died when I was four, he committed suicide” as he describes his unruly Minnesota childhood as the son of an often absent widowed mother who introduced him to philosophy and mythology from China and India. Later, as a rowdy sailor on the verge of court martial, he had his first mystical experience before finding astrophysics, “finally…a field that could satisfy.” Readers hoping for a simple or even easily understandable explanation of link between the scientific and the spiritual or mystical may feel thwarted, however, as they attempt to keep track of Bjerken’s acronyms—including Oriented Relations (OR), spacetime (ST), and State of Relation (S of R)—while navigating such intricate concepts as, “In OR a simple falling body’s S of R begins from arrested motion and accelerates towards its Orientor at the formal ST radial rate.” For those who find the essays opaque, the poems, which Bjerken describes as having “roots in the Metaphysical poetry of the 17th Century,” may be better suited to his blend of the technical and the esoteric. Some of the most memorable ideas and images in this sometimes-inscrutable book appear in “Cross Country Skiing,” in which the changing condition of the ski trail becomes a metaphor for life, and “The Hyphen” is an intriguing meditation on the human life span through the titular punctuation between the dates carved on a tombstone.
A thought-provoking, if occasionally incomprehensible, study of mystical reality.Pub Date: May 3, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-64388-951-1
Page Count: 114
Publisher: Luminare Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A breathtaking, artful set of poems on loss, family, place, and memory.
Gunter-Seymour’s intricate poetry collection weaves together themes of grief and joy.
This poetry compilation begins in the past with “Vernal Equinox”: “I’ve been thinking about last times / I never knew were the last.” Across five sections, Gunter-Seymour’s works continue to reckon with the past head-on as they tell of childhood in Appalachian Ohio and the experience of being a mother. The poems portray the mosaic of her speakers’ lives, touching on a complex relationship with a mother, a loved one’s battle with alcohol and drug use, a fierce love of a child, and an insatiable commitment to the possibilities of language. As readers move through the collection, they will also encounter reflections on current topics, such as Covid-19, police brutality, the opioid epidemic, and others. A wide variety of poetic forms and devices brings a musicality to the poems that underscores both the simplicity and the jaggedness of love, and each section moves fluidly into the next. Beyond that, Gunter-Seymour attaches her speakers to physical locations through language, offering personal meaning to places such as New York City, Ohio, and Tennessee. Overall, the language is stunning and abrupt, with nuggets of introspection, as in “Rorschach Test”: “Listen—there are things to love / about failure too. Sometimes / we make mistakes, call them coincidence, / trapped like thirsty sponges / between memory and the moment.” Gunter-Seymour doesn’t shy away from discomfort, impressively embracing painful moments and showing how memories define people only as much as they allow them to do so. The collection’s title is a testament to the idea that being alone doesn’t mean being without a sense of place; one can create a home inside of oneself and move forward with “the sense / of something waiting to unfold, / leaving only the wait” (“Weather Report”).
A breathtaking, artful set of poems on loss, family, place, and memory.Pub Date: Sept. 27, 2022
ISBN: 978-0-8040-1243-0
Page Count: 104
Publisher: Swallow Press
Review Posted Online: Sept. 2, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 15, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
A heartfelt, upbeat, but uneven collection of poems.
This debut volume of poetry explores various themes, from personal relationships to religious beliefs.
The poems collected here are arranged in alphabetical order, opening with “Aligned,” which discusses finding a connection with Earth and spirituality, and closing with “Writer’s Block,” about the desire to write when one should be sleeping. The pieces in between ponder all manner of subjects but with a devotion to Christianity at their hearts. “Foundations” underscores the importance of building a life founded in Jesus: “Laying sure foundations, / In Jesus Christ alone, / Building a lively temple for their home.” Some poems—such as “Death, Where Is Thy Sting?”—ponder the wonder of the soul’s ascension into heaven juxtaposed with human frivolity and materialism: “At the end of life, will I ask, ‘Could I have done more?’ / More for whom or what? / For a nicer house? More holidays? Or a car that is fast?” Other pieces address greed and climate change, the pain of divorce, and, in one unexpected diversion, the existence of fairies. Deshon’s poetic voice is a passionate, benevolent one, charged with positivity—as found in “Birthday Message”: “And may the day be yours to share, / Surrounded by those who deeply care, / Filled to the brim with earthly love, / Showered with heavenly blessings from above.” For Christian readers, there is something deeply reassuring in her steadfast belief that all will be well provided that one’s sights are set on “heaven’s open portal.” But the author’s unyielding insistence on rhyming often results in the gravity of her writing being lost: “Ozone layer, global heating, / Men, women, children get a beating.” In such instances, weighty issues become naïve singsongs. This frequently leads to inopportune word choices—for instance, the pains of humankind being reduced to a tizz simply to rhyme with His. The poet’s work is also punctuated by platitudes: “Like a fish needs a bicycle” and “A rolling stone, Gathering no moss.” The result is that despite Deshon’s palpable warmth and beliefs, this volume offers little that is new in terms of exploring humans’ earthly existence and relationship with a higher power.
A heartfelt, upbeat, but uneven collection of poems.Pub Date: N/A
ISBN: 978-1-6698-8750-8
Page Count: 154
Publisher: XlibrisAU
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2022
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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