9 Lively Cat Tales and Other Pet PoemsBy: Jeffry GloverPublisher: Poems for Pleasure PressPublication Date: September 2019ISBN: 978-1948854009Reviewed by: Anita LockPoet Jeffry Glover provides middle-school-grade to adult ailurophiles with entertaining quadruped anecdotes in 9 Lively Cat Tales and Other Pet Poems.Jeffry Glover has a hankering for catchy rhymes and all things whimsical in 9 Lively Cat Tales and Other Pet Poems. The one-time school librarian and English teacher now...
A Dime is a Sign: Poems of Love and LossBy: Sherrill S. CannonPublisher: Strategic Book Publishing & Rights Agency, LLCPublication Date: September 2018ISBN: 978-1949483208Reviewed by: Anita LockAward-winning author Sherrill Cannon provides plenty to ponder in her next installment of poems of love and loss, A Dime is a Sign.Before Cannon's poetry turned into book form, they were first used for other purposes. While some poems focused on personal reflection, the majority were designed to...
Amygdala BlueBy: Paul LomaxPublished by: Atmosphere PressPublication Date: April 25, 2022ISBN: 978-1639883318Reviewed by: Lily AndrewsReview Date: May 5, 2022Mystery, emotion, and drama fire up author Paul Lomax's finely-wrought collection of short stories and poems consequently demanding spontaneous attention.Amygdala Blue is an eclectic anthology of short stories and poems that challenge readers to reflect on their own lives and choices. Here, Lomax explores a myriad of themes that include,...
Battle CryBy: Jennifer Sara WidelitzPublished by: Atmosphere PressPublication Date: April 30, 2022ISBN: 978-1639882854Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger ScottReview Date: June 12, 2022Author and visual artist Jennifer Sara Widelitz gives voice and vision to her inner hopes and fears through words both strong and delicate, and emotive drawings in her work Battle Cry.The poems here are arrayed in five segments, emphasizing the challenges that have arisen gradually from her physical disabilities –...
Before the Foundation of the WorldBy: Susan WeinerPublisher: Belle Isle BooksPublication Date: February 2020ISBN: 978-1947860452Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger ScottDate: May 29, 2020Classical, natural and heartfelt imagery combine in this collection of poems by scholar and dedicated Christian Susan Weiner.Weiner’s book examines our world before, during and after the advent of Jesus, from a multitude of perspectives. The opening piece, “Cinnamon and Myrrh,” celebrates the effect of love in...
ConvalesceBy: Enne ZalePublisher: Atmosphere PressPublication Date: December 2021ISBN: 978-1639881796Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger ScottReview Date: December 29, 2021A poet looks back on a failed attempt at love and recounts the many ways that it has affected her, even as she tries to forget and move on, in this stirring collection by Enne Zale.In a brief introductory free verse piece, Zale avers that “my poetry has no chronological order.” Thus, the reader may understand that her thoughts...
Copywrite God and Me: Lyrics from a Collection of Inspired SongsBy: Christina NordstromPublication Date: 2018ISBN: 978-1-38-831490-3Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger ScottChristina Nordstrom is a singer/songwriter who often finds inspiration in mystical circumstances, described here in charming narrative.Lyrics to ninety songs with accompanying narrative are presented in this fascinating look inside the thinking processes of a performer, much of whose musical endeavors have a charitable purpose....
DriftersBy: Stuart Jay SilvermanPublisher: Atmosphere PressPublication Date: October 2021ISBN: 978-1639880607Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger ScottDate: November 10, 2021Poetry is magic, and especially so when coming from award-winning wordsmith Stuart Jay Silverman, who spins yarns, weaves tapestries of time and place, and creates seemingly real characters out of colorful patches of poesy.In the first section of this multi-layered aggregation, he takes the reader “In the Biome,” and for...
Flowers That DieBy: Gideon HalpinPublisher: Atmosphere PressPublication Date: December 2021ISBN: 978-1639881604Reviewed by: Barbara Bamberger ScottReview Date: January 17, 2022A poet with a wide range of life experience, a “veteran of spiritual warfare,” Gideon Halpin offers his debut collection centered on the reflections and perceptions of a character he calls “Sad Boy.”The opening piece, “Mid-daydream,” finds Sad Boy wistfully strolling through a meadow and remembering a girl...
Gathering the Self: Poems of the HeartBy: David BayardPublisher: Skyboy PressPublication Date: October 2018ISBN: 978-0996738037Reviewed by: Anita LockWordsmith David Bayard provides an enlightening window into nature and self in his baker-dozen collection of poems, Gathering the Self.Some people are weirded out by the number 13 for a variety of reasons that go beyond its prime classification; others could care less. To David Bayard, the odd number is nothing less than "spiritually irreducible...