Today’s Sunday Book Review is for John Roedel’s Untied – The Poetry of how Knots Become Strings. I was introduced to Roedel’s free verse poetry by my lovely friend Jane Sturgeon. She shared one of his poems with me that moved me immediately, so off I went to Amazon to order a paperback copy. I prefer poetry books in paperback so I can dog-ear poetry I wish to go back and read again. I quite honestly, got hooked on free verse poetry from reading quite a few books by Frank Prem.
Blurb:
The knots in our stomachs can still be untangled. The binds we tether our hands together with can still be undone. There is still time for us to untangle rope we tied around our necks. This is the poetry of for those trying to live that is not tethered to our past mistakes or future worries. This is the poetry for anybody who wants to become unbound from their regret. This is the poetry of breaking free of all that keeps us from rising. This is the poetry of letting all that binds us slip away so we can chase the horizon. This is the poetry of how knots can become strings.
My 5 Star Review:
I’m so glad a friend had shared one of these heartfelt poems with me, which had me ordering a paperback copy of this moving book of poetry, pronto. Roedel’s poetry is deep and raw with no holds back. It felt to me that this type of poetry couldn’t be fictional as the author expresses both, the beauty and pain of incidences in life as poetic short stories where he takes us right into his heart-grabbing passages. Many of these passages indicate to me, the author had to have lived much of what he wrote because of the deep emotion in his words that makes me feel as though he lived his stories, his tellings will seep deep within a reader’s soul.
In this book you’ll find poetry on love, childhood, fears, darkness, life, and death, parents, children, and more. Some will make you smile, some will bring a tear, but these poetic stories are guaranteed to leave an impact. A timeless book to pick up again and again.
There are so many passages that I found myself identifying with such as:
Excerpt from – What’s Left?
“I’m destroyed, ” I said while standing amid the
smoldering ruins of all that I once thought mattered.
“No, you aren’t,” God replied to me through the
sound of the freezing January wind passing
through pines.“
“But everything is gone… ” I offered quietly.
“Not everything, my love.” God said through the
bits of sunlight peeking through the ashen post-
snowfall clouds.“
“What’s left?” I asked.
God spoke through the plops of water coming from
the slowly melting icicles:
“Your recovery.”
Excerpt from What’s Left? By John Roedel
Excerpt from Pulling Strings
“Love is a piece of endless
yarn that each of us agree to
hold on to an end of
gently between our fingers
so that when we get separated
from one another
by the illusion of death
we can tug it
ever so softly
to send each other messages
back and forth through the slack
as if to say:
“I’m still here.”
Excerpt from Pulling Strings by John Roedel
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