Stars: ****
If you are a frequent visitor here, you may remember that I reviewed (and gave away) a book title Trash Talk by Dave and Lillian Brummet. This is a poetry book by just Lillian.
Summary: Follow the author as she battles her past demons, raises her voice in anger, discovers self-awareness and recovers from an intense relationship bordering on obsession. You will witness the healing, as she becomes aware of the value of her life and falls deeply in love with a wholesome man. Finally, able to see beyond herself, she starts to question society and endeavors to understand others. She discovers a love for nature and a dedication to the health of the Earth.
I don’t read poetry often. I usually find it hard to follow or understand and I’d much rather read a full story. Towards Understanding, while a book of many poems, is almost like a short story as most of the poems relate to each other. Just like the summary says, the poems follow the author’s life through hell and back and you can see the healing, even just in the way the poems are written, even without looking at the words.
Very few are more than one page, most are half a page or so. This was a good thing for me as the longer the poem, the harder I find it to follow. Each poem is dated and if it’s about someone or dedicated to someone, that is mentioned. Some of the earlier poems are a bit simple, but then she wrote those when she was a teenager.
Here is one of the shortest (if not THE shortest) poem in the book for a sample:
A THOUGHT
Most of us are mixed of heart.
Most of us have been torn apart.
How much pain can one endure,
And still retain some innocence?
Is it just me, or do others see,
This comical, sadistic error of confusion
That we are pleased to call human.
(1991)
– Copyright 2005 Lillian Brummet
If you are into poetry that speaks from deep within, that reeks of emotion, then Lillian’s poems are the kind of poetry you should read.
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