Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – Garden Black by Frank Prem #Poetry

Published on by dgkaye

My Sunday Book Review is for the latest collection of speculative poetry by Frank Prem. I have enjoyed reading many of Frank’s books because his poetry interpretations take us along with him on his observations whether real or fiction, his truth shines through.

Blurb:

The Garden Black poetry collection is a venture into fantasy and speculative fiction based on the dual themes of rain forest and fantasy.

. The rainforest becomes a desert, and then the sea.

. A man in a satellite orbits the earth while playing his violin and pondering. A girl gazes up at the passing light and dances.

. Od Ovo – a youth who is from here, raises the dust of frustrated boredom on a mining asteroid, and cannot believe traveller tales of places where water falls from the sky.

. What colour are the flowers in the Reaper’s garden? They are all colours . . . They are black.

Welcome to the speculative fantasies that are The Garden Black.

My 5 Star Review:

From fantasy to the deep is what you will find in this new interesting collection of speculative poetry by Frank Prem. Prem’s poetry reminds that life is fragile and fleeting. Life is brief and can be both harsh and beautiful at times. The author shares conversations evoked in his mind through his observations and imagination, life’s incidences and moments.

A few poems in particular, caught my attention and touched deep. I’ll share them here through partial excerpt:

Not sorry only grief (waiting)

"I have no wish
to go back
home

home
never
quite
had room
for what I was

but
I do wish
that home
could spare a
thought - 
just ocassionally -
for me ..."

Unbound (goodbye)

"gravity
would hold me down
but
I was not made
to be
earthly tied

I set my sights
somewhere
over the tree tops

the strength
my strength
lives
in the will I hold ..."


Jet on night

"he
is a silhouette

she
a shadow leaning
up against
the wall

he reaches
to touch her
with the sun
shining behind him

she holds up
a phantom hand
to better feel
their connection

darkness on
darkness

he isn't there

jet on jet

she isn't there ..."



©DGKaye2022

69 thoughts on “Sunday Book Review – Garden Black by Frank Prem #Poetry”

    2. Hi Harmony. Thank you. It was avery enjoyable writing fantasy and speculation deliberately, rather than just stumbling into it. Allowed some structure to go into the collection, which I like much.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply
  7. Pingback: Smorgasbord Blog Magazine Weekly Round Up – May 2nd – 8th 2022 – Voice of Indie, Hits 1994, Ella Fitzgerald, Guest Posts, Short Stories, Poetry, Health and Humour | Smorgasbord Blog Magazine

  14. Reblogged this on Frank Prem Poetry and commented:
    Ho wonderful to receive a review of The Garden Black from Debby Gies (D. G. Kaye) in her Sunday Book Review feature.

    Debby is a wonderful writer/blogger and humorist of note, and I’m quite chuffed with her choice of poems to highlight – particularly ‘jet on night’, which fascinated me while I was trying to get my head around the idea enough to convey to a reader.

    Thank you so much, Debby.

    Like

    Reply

    1. Thank you Frank. It was my pleasure to read. Your poetry always touches a cord with me. I hope to look forward to some of the stirring war poetry you’ve been treating us to on your blog, soon. Thanks for reblogging. 🙂

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

      1. I’m wondering what to do with that, Debby. There is a huge collection that I think has to be read with the relevant image – which I don’t have copyright for. Earlier material (first couple of weeks) may be do-able. I’m hoping to have an abstract I’ve submitted to present a paper on the relevance of poetry to contemporary society (or something like that) accepted for presentation to a conference at the end of the year. If the paper gets a speaking part I might push myself to make a publication to go with it.

        We’ll see!

        Like

      2. I know you mentioned that before when I raised the question on your blog. You don’t need the original images. Your poetry speaks. Perhaps you can find suitable images on a photo site that would coincide with the essence of each poem? Just a thought. 🙂

        Liked by 1 person

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