A sincere, sometimes-uplifting compilation, although it relies too much on clichés of inspirational writing.
In her second collection of poetry, Martin (The Butterfly That Returned, 2015) focuses her inspirational verse on the power of the human spirit.
These poems extol the value of emotion and instinct over thought and social conditioning, encouraging readers to “take heart and keep walking / Because the magic is always working.” Although moments of darkness and despair appear from time to time, the collection is largely upbeat, often zooming in on opportunities for joy and peace that readers might find in their daily lives. These themes are consistent throughout the book, but Martin varies her style from poem to poem. Some are closer to prose poetry, others read like short meditations or mantras, and still others conform to straightforward rhyme schemes. Despite its conciseness—it’s just under 50 pages long—the book offers an array of perspectives on Martin’s central concerns. These will be familiar to many readers as exhortations to move away from mainstream consumer culture and toward self-actualization, the well-worn territory of countless self-help and inspirational volumes. Readers new to those genres may find Martin’s poems genuinely inspiring. However, a more seasoned audience may find their content a bit stale. The rhyming couplets can be stilted, with such awkwardly metered lines as, “Listen to the knowing that came deeply etched in our very birth / That which all power holders often regard with mirth.” In these sections, the author’s stylistic choices sap the strength of her ideas. In others, however, Martin’s messages come through with force and clarity: “Life is wonderful when we aspire to have infinite patience to discover our / passions.” For readers looking to discover such passions, this earnest collection may become a valuable part of their ongoing spiritual growth.
A sincere, sometimes-uplifting compilation, although it relies too much on clichés of inspirational writing.Pub Date: Oct. 29, 2015
ISBN: N/A
Page Count: 50
Publisher: Amazon Digital Services
Review Posted Online: Jan. 28, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.
A slim volume of largely gay-themed writings with pessimistic overtones.
Poe (Simple Simon, 2013, etc.) divides this collection of six short stories and 34 poems into five sections: “Art,” “Death,” “Relationship,” “Being,” and “Reflection.” Significantly, a figurative death at the age of 7 appears in two different poems, in which the author uses the phrase “a pretended life” to refer to the idea of hiding one’s true nature and performing socially enforced gender roles. This is a well-worn trope, but it will be powerful and resonant for many who have struggled with a stigmatized identity. In a similar vein, “Imaginary Tom” presents the remnants of a faded relationship: “Now we are imaginary friends, different in each other’s thoughts, / I the burden you seek to discard, / you the lover I created from the mist of longing.” Once in a while, short story passages practically leap off of the page, such as this evocative description of a seedy establishment in Lincoln, Nebraska: “It was a dimly lit bar that smelled of rodent piss, with barstools that danced on uneven legs and made the patrons wonder if they were drunker than they thought.” In “Valéry’s Ride,” Poe examines the familial duties that often fall to unmarried and childless people, keeping them from forming meaningful bonds with others. In this story, after the double whammy of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita hits Louisiana, Valéry’s extended family needs him more than ever; readers will likely root for the gay protagonist as he makes the difficult decision to strike out on his own. Not all of Poe’s main characters are gay; the heterosexual title character in “Mrs. Calumet’s Workspace,” for instance, pursues employment in order to escape the confines of her home and a passionless marriage. Working as a bookkeeper, she attempts to carve out a space for herself, symbolized by changes in her work area. Still, this story echoes the recurring theme of lives unlived due to forces often beyond one’s control.
Downbeat but often engaging poems and stories.Pub Date: Nov. 16, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-5168-3693-2
Page Count: 120
Publisher: CreateSpace
Review Posted Online: March 5, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A substantive, streamlined look at early Christian poetry and music.
A debut book provides a blend of scholarship and creative translation focusing on Christianity’s formative years.
Though contemporary Christians of all types are used to singing hymns in church, the praise song has a history in the Judeo-Christian tradition going back perhaps four millennia, existing in the earliest biblical texts; scholars find it in the first Psalms, Exodus, and arguably even Genesis. Glendinning offers a sturdy contribution to this tradition in these new English renderings of Christian hymns from the Middle Ages. Some are reworked from Latin originals by giants of the ecclesiastical tradition; Thomas Aquinas is here, as are Abelard, Ambrose, and Bonaventura. Others come from dimmer stars in the pantheon, among them Fulbert of Chartres, Marbod of Rennes, and Alan of Lille. But each of these verses earns its place in this volume. Here is the end of a lauds song by Aquinas: “O Lamb of God, salvation’s grace, / That opens for us Heaven’s door, / We know the throes that all must face, / O bide with us, our strength restore!” And here is a piercing stanza from the lesser-known Paulinus of Aquileia: “Like teeming olive trees of God, the two, / A candelabrum’s fervent arms of gold, / Two luminaries lighting Heaven’s sky, / They loose and cast aside the chains of sin, / Unlock the gates of Paradise anew.” Glendinning is right to point out that both of these passages—along with many others in this valuable, satisfying compendium—engage a common theme: the urge to “prepare one’s soul for eternity.” And this shared concern acts as a narrow ribbon lacing together these 40-odd poems from roughly 1,000 years of religious history. But as remarkable as Glendinning’s work as a translator is, the academic writing here is even more impressive. In an extended introduction and brief prefaces to each set of hymns, the author presents historical context, formal analysis, and his own translation theory. Even better, he rolls out all this worthy material without the unnecessarily complicated jargon that mars many similar scholarly volumes.
A substantive, streamlined look at early Christian poetry and music.Pub Date: March 12, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4602-4977-2
Page Count: 320
Publisher: FriesenPress
Review Posted Online: March 3, 2016
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2016
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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