Tag: Poetry

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – Ida: Searching for the Jazz Baby #freeversepoetry

Published on by dgkaye71 Comments

Welcome to my Sunday Book Review. Today I’m reviewing Frank Prem’s new release – Ida: Searching for the Jazz Baby. In this story of historical fiction written in free verse poetry, Frank touches on the life of Ida Pender, aka Jazz Baby, and her wild lifestyle in the 1920s. Complete with newspaper clippings and stories to accompany.

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Blurb:

Who is Ida Pender? Is she the elderly woman – Ida-Spider – rumoured to be resident in a 1970’s Mental Asylum?

Is she Squizzy Taylor’s teenaged gangster moll of the roaring 1920’s in Melbourne? The woman the police declared had shapely legs? She is Ida. The Jazz Baby.

Frank Prem explores the story of Ida Pender, largely forgotten now, but once the notorious associate of a 1920s Melbourne gnagster. From the young girl sneaking out of her bedroom window to go dancing at the Palais de Danse, companion, accomplice, then wife and mother to Squizzy Taylor’s child by her early twenties, Ida is an extraordinary woman and a marvellous story.

My 5 Star Review:

A freeverse poetry collection about a jazz dancer and true crime in 1920s Melbourne, Australia where Jazz baby, Ida, daughter of a horse trainer, falls in love with Melbourne’s notorious underworld criminal, Leslie ‘Squizzy’ Taylor, once a horse jockey. The story begins in the 1970s where the author, Prem, as a young student, was a pyschiatric nurse at the Lunatic Asylum where several elderly women were called Ida. ‘Rumor’ had it that one of these Idas was Ida Pender, the gun-moll of Squizzy Taylor.

Prem researched the story of Ida Pender and Squizzy Taylor, who was eventually killed in a shootout, leaving Ida a widowed, single mother at the tender age of 23. Ida loved to dance since a child and was discovered to be part of a competitive dance group who loved to dance to jazz at the Palis de Dance. Prem brings back to life the story of Jazz Baby in prose and poetry. With each newspaper clipping headline, Prem tells the story in poetry through the character’s minds. An introductory poem to the elusive Ida:

the company (she keeps)


The pair are “Squizzy” TayJor, and his paramour, Ida
Pender, who has been associated with him since she
was a mere child of sixteen
“Squizzy” Taylor——As He Is! The Mirror, Perth 05/07/1924
is she
a bad girl
or
does she just choose
poor company . . .
a man
might be a
murderer
but still be nice
to me
and
if I love him . . .
and
I do love him . . .
where else
should I be
is she a bad
bad girl
or is she
just . . .
just . . .
just keeping company
as best
she can

If you enjoy a ‘different’ kind of story-telling, you will enjoy this well-researched story combined with the author’s imagination, written in poetry, accompanied by headlines. All the author’s research resources are listed in the book.

©DGKaye2023


Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – #Poetry – Sorrowful Soul by Harmony Kent.

Published on by dgkaye71 Comments

My Sunday Book Review is for a heartfelt read, – Harmony Kent’s new release – Sorrowful Soul. This book was written in free verse poetry and dedicated to the claimed, seven stages of grief – despite the stages in no way being linear – just ask me, one who is living with grief. A beautiful Calla Lilly was depicted for the cover. As the author expresses, the Calla Lilly is used for both weddings and funerals, and occasions in-between, but also represents tears as the water droplets form on the petals.

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Blurb:

f we’re lucky, we meet twilight at the front door and old age creeps in on the night breeze.

Even if we make it to our twilight years, the more we age, the more loss we must endure as part of the cycle of life. Many of these poems lament death, but they also relate to broken relationships, severed friendships, and the loss of youth. This book of grief poetry is as much about saying goodbye and working through loss as it is about death and love split asunder.

This heartfelt collection provides company and compassion through the devastating journey of loss and shows us we do not travel this lonely road alone. Within these pages we share shock, numbness and denial, catapult into anger, bargaining, depression, loneliness, and guilt, and—eventually—make the seismic shift into testing the possibility of a new normal and finding acceptance.~~~~~

Praise for Slices of Soul, Book 1 in the Soul Poetry Series:

“I found my answer in this wonderful treasure-trove and have already read it three times.” Robert Fear

“I found in Slices of Soul something approaching aesthetic bliss, a sense of being connected in some way to other states – like tenderness, kindness, ecstasy – where art is the norm.” Colm Herron

“A stunning collection of poems that I read in one sitting! Unable to simply put this down until I had read the last. I love the clarity of the short poems, such clear images created in so few words or phrases. Many of them touched my heart and I will be giving them a 2nd and 3rd read!” Audrina Lane

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Praise for Life & Soul, Book 2 in the Soul Poetry Series:

“…a wonderful and relatable look on the seasons of life and the heartbreak and happiness of love and family.” Julie

“I would highly recommend this book to anyone who’s looking for some good poetry that hits you right in the feels.” Katie

“Powerful and Enlightening: I highly recommend this volume and eagerly look forward to her next collection.” Writester

My 5 Star Review:

I couldn’t wait for this book to come out in paperback, and I wasn’t disappointed. I’m familiar with this author’s multi-genre talent in writing, and I especially enjoy her heartfelt poetry. The book is divided into what is said – the seven stages of grief. As the author points out, and I can attest to, these stages are by no means the law and order of grief and can and will be felt at various times after a loss, and in no specific order – Shock and Disbelief; Denial; Guilt; Anger and Bargaining; Depression, Loneliness and Reflection; Working Through; and Acceptance.

It’s difficult to write this type of heartfelt poetry if one hasn’t loved and lost someone or something, just as a reader won’t take in the breadth of it unless they too have lived loss themselves. But one doesn’t have to have lost someone to take in these evocative poems and feel both the love and the pain of loving and losing to stir up emotions and reiterate how precious life is. These stories in poetry speak of painful losses – death, youth and health.This is a beautiful book that one can pick up at anytime and open up a page to. A handy reference to revisit time and time again. This would be a lovely gift for someone who is grieving or for friends and relatives to offer some insight into the grieving process and the loneliness that ensues.

All these poems hit me hard, in fact, each and every poem spoke to me, especially, Borrowed Time from Part 1 – Shock and Disbelief:

“From wedding bells

To funeral dirge

From dancing and fun

To tears and disbelief

None could have known

How soon you’d be gone

We miss your smile

And loud, easy laughter

Your compassion

And unassuming friendship

From May to December

You withered away

And by the new year

We burned your bones

Scattered your pale ashes

To the fickle wind

And looking back

I still can’t believe

Nor properly grieve

From wedding bells

To funeral dirge

Where to now?”

Each and every poem resonated me as I endure my own great loss, and my compassion was lent to the author in her own stories of her losses. It’s difficult to pick out a favorite in this heartfelt read, but a few more that gave me pause, some favored quotes from:

No Words – “…I’ve died a hundred times since you left my life bereft”

The Worst Kind of Thief – “…The sparkle in your eyes ignited me whole”

Not Since – “…Didn’t sleep last night Nor the night before, Not since they carried you, Out the door”

Down Deep – “… And joy on the beach, All I feel now is the scratch of the sand, In this barren, strange, unknown land, You were my navigator, my pilot, My life’s one true love, And, oh my darling, I miss you so much”

Triggers – “a discarded shoe, an odd sock, or a simple visit to the shop, who ever knew the total and utter shock such simple things could induce?”

At the end of the book, Kent also leaves some important resource links for people who are in need of seeking help with mental anguish. I highly recommend this beautiful book full of verses of the human condition and emotion.

©DGKaye 2023

Sorrowful Soul by H. Kent

#Book #Promotion featuring Harmony Kent and her #Newrelease – Sorrowful Soul – Book 3 in the Soul Poetry Series

Published on by dgkaye62 Comments

Today I’m happy to be featuring Harmony Kent here with her newest edition to her beautiful, Soul Poetry Series, book 3 – Sorrowful Soul, now on preorder. I love Harmony’s writing and can’t wait for the paperback version to be published so I can have my own tangible copy.

Harmony Kent

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About Harmony:

Harmony Kent spent 13 years in a Zen Buddhist monastery, where she faced her demons and overcame devastating low self-esteem and found freedom. After a life-changing injury, Harmony returned to the world at the tender age of 40, and
her life as a writer began.


Harmony is an award winning multi-genre author, and her publications include:


The Battle for Brisingamen (Fantasy Fiction) AIA approved
The Glade (Mystery/Thriller) AIA Approved/BRAG Medallion Honouree/New
Apple Literary Awards Official Selection Honours 2015
Polish Your Prose: Essential Editing Tips for Authors (Writing/Editing) New
Apple Literary Awards Top Medallist Honours 2015
Finding Katie (Women’s Fiction)
Slices of Soul (Soul Poetry Series: Book 1)
Life and Soul (Soul Poetry Series: Book 2)
Sorrowful Soul (Soul Poetry Series: Book 3)
Interludes (Erotic Short Stories)
Interludes 2 (Erotic Short Stories)
Moments (Short Stories and Poetry)
Jewel in the Mud (Zen Musings)
Polish Your Prose (How to Self-Edit)
Creative Solutions (Creative Writing Inspiration)
Backstage (Erotic Romance and Thriller)
FALLOUT (Post-Apocalyptic Dystopia) BRAG Medallion Honouree
The Vanished Boy (Psychological Thriller)

As well as being an avid reader and writer, Harmony also offers reviews and supports her fellow authors. Harmony is always on the lookout for talent and excellence, and will freely promote any authors or books who she feels have these attributes.

Sorrowful Soul by Harmony Kent

Universal Sales Link:
https://mybook.to/SorrowfulSoul

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Blurb:

If we’re lucky, we meet twilight at the front door and old age creeps in on the night breeze.


Even if we make it to our twilight years, the more we age, the more loss we must endure as part of the cycle of life. Many of these poems lament death, but they also relate to broken relationships, severed friendships, and the loss of youth. This book of grief poetry is as much about saying goodbye and working through loss as it is about death and love split asunder.


This heartfelt collection provides company and compassion through the devastating journey of loss and shows us we do not travel this lonely road alone. Within these pages we share shock, numbness and denial, catapult into anger, bargaining, depression, loneliness, and guilt, and—eventually—make the seismic shift into testing the possibility of a new normal and finding acceptance.

Harmony’s beautiful book is on Pre-Order Now

GRAB YOUR COPY NOW: https://mybook.to/SorrowfulSoul

Check out Harmony’s beautiful trailer for Sorrowful Soul

Harmony here:

Hi, Debby. Thanks so much for hosting me today. It’s always wonderful to visit with you.


Here’s a little bit I’d love to share about my latest book of poetry, Sorrowful Soul. Full of freestyle poems, which provide company and compassion through the devastating journey of grief and loss and onward, this heartfelt collection shows us we do not travel this lonely road alone.


Though I’ve organised this book of poetry into seven sections, which follow established stages of grief, I’d like to note bereavement is non-linear and messy. It’s common to move up and circle around, and progress to the so-called higher steps, only to come crashing down, especially on anniversaries or other meaningful dates. Not even meaningful, as it can be the most insignificant of everyday things that undoes us … a discarded shoe, an odd sock, or a simple visit to the shop.

D.G. – You said a mouthful here Harmony. I know of what you speak, only too well. 🧡


Below is an extract from a poem about the journey through grief and moving toward a tentative acceptance of a new reality …

From Part 6: Working Through
(Extract From Night Train)

This train of travesty don’t stop
Just keeps a rollin’ down these treacherous tracks
The further it lurches into the dead, fallen leaves
The more friends and acquaintances fall behind
Unwilling or unable to journey with me and my baggage
As I climb my mountain of woe and regret—too near the edge
I grow tired and weary, my luggage heavy
To continue on there’s only one thing I can do
Pack my grief into a smaller suitcase
Hold it tight to my heaving, ache-filled chest
And take a leap of faith from this speeding train
As it hurtles straight for the abyss

H.K. -The line ‘Pack my grief into a smaller suitcase’ was inspired by one of Debby’s podcasts on grief, which I love. These short pieces on grieving are a must-listen and emphasise the non- linear nature of grief. Debby has a wonderful voice, and I could listen to her for hours.

D.G. – Harmony, I’m tearing up here from your heartfelt poem and your most kind words about me, and honored you’ve been inspired by my podcasts enough to listen and share one of my lines in your poem. I cannot wait for your book to become available in paperback! 💜


H.K. – Sadly, at times it seems as though grief piles atop grief, and the ‘train of travesty don’t stop.’ Life doesn’t always wait for us to recover from one loss before it hits us with another. Have you had to cope with multiple losses at once? If so, what helped you through your difficult times? Chat with me in the comments. I hope you enjoyed this poetic excerpt and would love to know what you think. Thanks for reading.

Find Harmony on Social Sites:

Harmony’s Website


twitter: @harmony_kent


Goodreads: Harmony Kent


BookBub: Harmony Kent


Story Empire (co-authored blog): Harmony Kent


Harmony’s Amazon Author Page: author.to/HarmonysBooks

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©DGKaye2022

if love could have saved you

Free Verse Poetry – Even Though – #Grief and Loss

Published on by dgkaye75 Comments

Some days the darkness is just too overwhelming, like no time has passed. Like a knife weilding deep into my soul, it doesn’t take much to send me right back there, to the worst day of my life. Grief is a ride I can’t seem to step off of, even the strongest of swimmers may drown. It ebbs and flows daily. Some days the tide is low, but many others, like today, a tsunami takes me over. It is only my writing to or about him that keeps myself from spontaneously combusting from excruciating grief.

Beloved Puppy

Even Though

Even though it’s been seventeen long months

Since you were taken,

Seventeens of thousands of tears I’ve shed

And continue to do so without much provocation.

I merely envision your beautiful face

And the heavens open and disperse through my eyes.

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Even though the burning and dire need to hug you is relentless

With insatiable desire to be held by you,

If I could just pull you into me,

Just one more time,

Maybe it would suffice.

I doubt it though,

Because I know I’d never let you go.

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Even though you’ve been gone for what feels an eternity,

The searing, pulsating pain still jackhammers my heart

With the same depths it did the moment I let go of your hand on your last breath.

It doesn’t ease.

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Even though I want to smile when thinking of you

The embedded visions that remain on autoplay

Keep overpowering our priceless memories.

The vision of leaning over and resting my head on your heart as

I couldn’t believe you existed then you didn’t.

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Even though I function on autopilot to get things done

The moments I take a pause to focus on you,

I fall apart all over again.

Seems I must cheat myself out of thinking about you every moment,

By suppressing with mundane life.

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Even though I’m struggling to choose life,

It somehow doesn’t feel like much of one –

More like just existing.

I don’t speak of this to anyone –

Not that there are too many anyones left,

In my immediate life.

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Even though you said it yourself and warned me,

The rude awakening of finding so few by my side

At the most harrowing time of my life,

It still shocks me, just adding to my numbness.

My circle of friends often kept me

From going to the darkside,

Or off the deep end,

But like sharks, darkness circles within.

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Even though I chose to live,

I’m only half of who I was.

The biggest love of my life is gone,

And with you went my heart taking with it all the love.

The thrills are gone as nothing excites.

Your empty half of the bed remains,

Now as a monument to our love and your existence.

The visions of watching you fade away there – never go away.

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Even though our bed is somehow a lifeline to me,

A sanctuary where we shared almost 26 years together,

Loving, listening, laughing, cuddling,

Waking one another gently from frightening nightmares,

The emptiness envelops my heart and soul, every time I climb in.

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Even though you’re not here now to shake me gently and whisper,

“Cubby, Cubby wake up,” to remove me from my dark dreams,

Often my days are just as dark.

I don’t have you to rescue me anymore.

I never knew where I was in those dreams

Or why I’d scream for help in those episodes.

I guess I never will now,

Unless you can rescue me

From where you are.

When my fears in that darkness

Go from nightmares into real life.

©DGKaye2022

Bitmo Sunday book review

Sunday Book Review – A Specialist at the Recycled Heart – #speculative #poetry by Frank Prem

Published on by dgkaye52 Comments

My Sunday Book Review today is for some wonderful speculative poetry by Frank Prem – A Specialist at the Recycled Heart.

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Blurb:

A Specialist at The Recycled Heart is free verse poetry and storytelling focused on the Speculative Fiction (SF) genre. The genre of What If . . . writing that encompasses fantasy and Sci fi and other forms within its warm embrace.

. What is the sound of the wind – of a sigh – on Mars?

. What does an abandoned artificial life form – an AI – contemplate in a lonely existence in far outer space. Why was it made, if only to be abandoned.

. Is it possible to go fishing to catch a passing thought?

.These and other all-too-big ideas are explored in the pages of A Specialist at The Recycled Heart.

Poetry written the way you always wished it would be.

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My 5 Star Review:

“The book is an interesting combination of science fiction and poignant real life issues. At places you are drifting in space, playing with the stars and planets while in other places you are lost in a jungle, trying to find your way home.”

Prem is known for his free verse poetry and switches things up by using sci-fi-like and fantasy style speculative fiction as well as taking real life issues and incorporating them into poetic prose, often leaving the reader to ride along with their own imagination.

The author writes in short words of free verse poetry, but his words open up our imaginations as we form our own interpretations of his stories. An example of his sci-fi prose he speaks of Red Mars and what he imagines it’s like there with succinct descriptions. The First Dog speaks of how the first dog accompanies an astronaught to the moon. My favorite was – a specialist (at the recycled heart), taking possession ‘of dreams, wishes and hopes, old loves and old lives that had been used up, broken’, ‘all of it to end up in emotional dumps’, as the author states he was called back to take these things and put them into the machinery of the re-imaginer he invented to melt down these emotions ‘to a fraction of itself’ then inject it and shape into an ornament as a keepsake – minus the aching and distress so that life can go on leaving tears behind, recycling broken hearts. How wonderful would it be to put our sadness into the re-imaginer?

Prem always delights with unexpected stories. He goes deep in his imagination and creates scenarios with his prose that give us pause, first wondering his intent, then having us interpret for ourselves.

©DGKaye 2022