Like random pages from a photo album, poems in Reflections include various subjects and times in the author’s life, including love interests, books, childhood memories, running, family members, animals, and romantic breakups. With no introduction, foreword, table of contents, sections, or discernible order, this book requires readers to draw their own conclusions about the 100 collected poems.
Through prose poems, free verse, and rhyming poetry, the author often explores emotions about love and loss. For instance, “I was once standing so strong / But living without you is just wrong, / I know I’m the one who is right / All you do is just put up a fight” (from “Life Without You”).
A few poems also address the author’s alcoholic father. In “Lush,” he writes: “Soon the booze is / Flowing and he remembers his first couple / Of Tymes he drank and how sick he got, / But not anymore.”
The inexplicable capitalization and archaic spelling of “time” as “Tyme” appears in nearly every poem, sometimes repeatedly. “I do so very much / Enjoy spending Tyme with you because / When we spend Tyme together we always / Have an [sic] wonderful Tyme” (from the poem “All For You”).
Repetition of other words and phrases also detract from the book’s freshness factor. Cliches appear frequently, including “castle in the sand,” “dreaming the night away,” “you bring a smile to my face,” “take me by the hand,” and “God must have sent you from above.” Even the ideas feel overly familiar. In “The Same Stars,” for example, two separated lovers wish upon the same stars in the sky.
Perhaps other adult children of alcoholic parents will relate to this book. Readers seeking inspiration and insight through poetic imagery and language, however, are likely to find it a disappointment.
Also available in hardcover and as an e-book.
