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
Some standouts but limited overall by the incessant rhyming and some clichéd sentiments.
Bajwa’s debut poetry collection explores spirituality, relationships, and current events.
Bajwa has been writing poetry assiduously for four years after an approximate 25-year hiatus following his high school efforts. Falling into nine thematic sections, these verses use end rhymes along with some half rhymes. In the opening poems, the narrator imagines himself as a silent, wandering observer: “I wanted to be like a river. To just gently flow.” That mellow determination sets an agreeably peripatetic tone. The first section, “Personalities,” contains character studies of heroes and criminals, a dichotomy continued in section three, “Friends and Foes.” Many of the most memorable poems are in part two, “Beauty and Love.” Several are addressed to “Malaguena,” with praise for the beloved’s features echoing the playful verse of Andrew Marvell: “no eyes are so profound, Malaguena, as yours. / Like two suns shining over that beautiful nose.” Other topics include cultivating one’s inner child, drinking with compatriots, and gratitude for freedom. As the title testifies, Bajwa relies heavily on the symbolism of heavenly beings, envisioning ordinary people as fallen angels and vice versa. First-person narratives from God and an angel who left paradise for a human lover imagine the intervention of the spiritual in the everyday. Structurally, the poems generally comprise five or six rhyming couplets. Although these follow no recognizable form, in a few cases, the first stanza is repeated as the last, thus creating a pleasant rounding-off effect. However, Bajwa’s insistence on rhyme can lead to some downright odd combinations, like wharf/dwarf and cute/flute/mute. Reversing normal word order, Bajwa can sound unfortunately Yoda-like in places: “Push oneself one must.” Moreover, most of the poems are printed in an eye-taxing italic font. The conclusions in the section “Life and the Universe” (“Life’s short. So keep smiling and carry on”) may be banal, but the “Current Affairs” section appreciates the complexities of the Middle East.
Some standouts but limited overall by the incessant rhyming and some clichéd sentiments.Pub Date: May 27, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-4834-3172-7
Page Count: 210
Publisher: Lulu
Review Posted Online: June 30, 2015
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
BOOK REVIEW
BOOK REVIEW
A bold and exhilarating collection of erotic, stream-of-consciousness poems.
A debut volume of poetry explores the emotional highs and lows of love and all its incarnations.
For eight years as she explored Europe, Kite-Powell collected cutthroat observations about mating, dating, and relating that she expertly arranged in free-verse poetry. Using distilled language that pulses with energy, the poet envelops readers in the heat and urgency of attraction. “Ask someone to run really fast into a brick wall. / they won’t do it. / love makes you do that,” she writes in “nostalgic whiplash.” The author lusts openly and unexpectedly for virtually everyone she meets, from a man in seat 21B to a beguiling bartender: “A glass slides to you. / his smile slides to you. / you drink the smile first / and taste the drink later.” But it isn’t all fun and games; in a standout poem titled “polyamorous existence,” the author laments the hyperoptimistic profiles on dating apps. All she wants to see is “a profile where the guy says his kids bug / the crap out of him and he just wants to cuddle after ordering a pizza.” Her tone then swerves from satirical to sorrowful when she realizes “nothing tastes or feels the same anymore. / not even sex.” While she gives shoutouts to literary greats like Tolstoy, Charles Bukowski, D.H. Lawrence, and Harold Pinter, her own poetry is firmly rooted in modern times and name-checks digital touchstones like emojis and Google hangouts. There’s never a dull moment in Kite-Powell’s work, and she isn’t limited to the salacious. In the final section, titled “Truth,” she flips the idea that “New York is a state of mind” on its head, eviscerates the “stupendously dysfunctional” communion wafer, and claims “nihilism is more real than love.” Though she may be too cynical for some readers (as when she writes that sex “might just be the only miracle there is”), she is never obscene. The only time she goes too far is in describing a plant’s leaves being as “stiff as his morning erection.”
A bold and exhilarating collection of erotic, stream-of-consciousness poems.Pub Date: Dec. 27, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-692-96157-5
Page Count: 100
Publisher: Time Tunnel Media
Review Posted Online: Aug. 2, 2018
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 15, 2018
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
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