Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m thrilled to be reviewing Sally Cronin’s new release, fresh off the press – Life is Like a Mosaic – Random Fragments in Harmony.
Sally is known for her wonderful and heartfelt shortstories and has created this book full of syllabic poetry and beautiful images to highlight her words in story written through her perspective of life. Later in the book, Sally invites us into a peek at her own life – triumphs and challenges written in rhyming prose.
Blurb:
“Use a picture. It’s worth a thousand words.” Arthur Brisbane 1911.
An image offers an opportunity to see endless possibilities depending on the viewer’s perspective. Where some might see beauty and joy, others imagine sadness and loss of hope.
In this collection, images and syllabic poetry are brought together to tell a story based on the author’s perspective. The poetry explores our human experiences such as love, happiness, hope, aging, friendship, new beginnings, dreams and loss.
The world around us is an amazing playground and source of all our essential needs as well as sensory experiences that bring wonder into our lives. What lies beyond the horizon? What surprises will we discover as a garden bursts into bloom? Where do the night creatures live?
At the end of the collection there are some longer poems celebrating memories of the author’s life of travel, teenage exploits and love of food!
My 5 Star Review:
This author is well-known for her heartfelt short stories and poetry alike. Haiku and Tanka syllabic poetry along with beautiful images are used to express stories about life and nature. Sally Cronin knows how to take the reader in, even in short prose, leaving profound messages to savor and to come back and revisit again and again. She touches on several aspects on life and the human condition with stories about aging, friendship, legacy, birthdays, world peace and more.
In the second part of the book, Cronin treats us with some of her own ‘slices of life’, where she shares tidbits in rhyming prose about some of her own challenges and victories in her life, and the lessons that come along with them with her observations. I enjoyed every single story, but I will point out a few that resonated with me along with my short summations:
Our Legacy – A reminder that being kind will add to our legacies
Silver Lining to Isolation – A good reminder that clocks shouldn’t decide how we use our time.
Advancing Years – The passing of time and what we have to show for it in the end
The Day After – A peaceful day of reckoning when there is no more war
The Air – Giving air a breath
Friendship – Power and weakness
Birthdays – Marked by wrinkles and laughter lines, a life well-lived
Loose Lips – Those friends who can keep secrets is part of a life well-lived
Ageism – Those who are quick to forget where much of invention originated
Scepticism – Otherwise interpreted as ‘fake news’, scattered truths, misleading media, and as the author states, ”planned outcomes”. “Politics, where truth is scattered on the wind.”
Life’s Progression – The marking of time by learning and love
Thanksgiving – Not the holiday, but every day is good for thanks
Immortality-Writers – What we leave behind
Yearning – For the world that once was, pre-pandemic.
The author shares some of her ‘slices of life’ experiences in rhyming prose:
Childhood Memories – Growing up in Ceylon
Summer Holidays – At the beach
Rebellion in Frome – Age 16, the author defies her mother and gets away with it
The Leftovers – Love and acceptance
Farewell to Colourful Friends – Going back to her roots – pun intended.
As I mentioned earlier in this review, this author can tell big stories in minimal words, always encompassing compassion and goodness in her stories and messages. Recommended reading!
©DGKaye2021
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