Let’s begin this review of Not a Fairytale by asking if it’s not a fairytale, then what is it? Essentially, it’s a rare form of memoir, not told as a story with characters and dialogue, but as a poem based, as many memoirs are, on...

Poetry's Soulo: Creative Works to Uplift the Soul by Latonia Sears is a generous offering to fans of poetry and readers looking for words that connect with reality. In this collection, readers encounter someone who wants to see a better world. The poem “Hooked on...

Within the Heart of Silence by James William Peercy and Jacqueline E Smith is a collection of deeply moving spiritual poems that are rich in symbolism. What immediately catches the reader’s attention is how the authors instill life into what appears to be commonplace —...

A Christian Gift: Uplifting Poetry for All Occasions is a collection of twenty-six poems by Bozena Zawisz with illustrations by Fred Khoury. In the author’s own words, they are intended to “express diverse Christian reflections aimed at nourishing faith, hope, and love.” Most of the...

I have never read anything like Hard Candy/Pitch Roll Yaw: Caregiving, Mourning and Stage Light by Annie Lanzillotto. Hard Candy revolves around Lanzillotto’s relationship with her mother, Rachel. In this portion of the book, readers are given poems and prose through Lanzillotto’s perspective as she...

Life loved, lived and lost should be the subtitle for Lost Key in Marriage, a poignant offering of poems by The Duke of Quails. While relatively compact insofar as book length goes, Lost Key in Marriage definitely packs a huge emotional punch. It’s divided into...

Exposed Poetry Memoirs: My Battle, My Healing, My Love, My Purpose is an inspiring collection of poems authored by Pre. Kaya' Gilkey. The book is divided into various parts. The first part is a heart-wrenching one where the poet discloses her personal struggles while growing...

Observations of the Soul: Poetry of a Nomad by Adam Smith is a collection of poetry based on Adam’s personal and spiritual experiences. Observations of the Soul is quite a short book and the poems are mostly a page or two each in length. Most...

Lakewood: Reggie and Anita’s Camelot, a Gift from God is a nonfiction memoir and collection of poetry and photographs by Reginald Hill. Daniel and Annabel Hinson, Hill’s grandparents, left him the woods, fields and lake known collectively as Lakewood. His grandfather had actually built the...

Making a Poem by Vihang A. Naik is a collection of poems that sheds light on the poet’s observations of life and living. The author’s observations of life and his surroundings have been expressed in verses that are stark, simple, and neat. The poems in...