For Those Looking For The Light by Victoria Pen, From Emoji to Empathy: Mastering Customer Service in The Digital Era by Susan Williamson, and The Corsico Conspiracy by Raphael Sone

 For Those Looking For The Light by Victoria Pen, From Emoji to Empathy: Mastering Customer Service in The Digital Era by Susan Williamson, and The Corsico Conspiracy by Raphael Sone

For Those Looking For The Light by Victoria Pen

Victoria Pen’s concrete poetry is filled with deep emotions like depression, grief, nostalgia, worry, but also joy, hope and peace. It dares Readers to empathize and feel what the Speakers are feeling and listen to their voices.

The best poems are: 

“My Dear Child”-A poem in which the Speaker mourns the death or separation of their child. The constant repetition of “I wish I could” recognizes the regret of things that the child could have learned and felt with their parents like warmth and protection but now cannot. It is melancholic and sadness not only for what was lost but what can never be.

“Learning What Home Feels Like”-A poem in which the Speaker weighs many negative feelings towards themselves such as “ugly,” “dim witted,” “awkward,” and “embarrassing.” The twist is that the Speaker accepts those words and takes pride in them. They and their strange interests are what makes them who they are. Anyone who has ever felt self-conscious because of their personality traits, occupation, study path, or interests will understand and even relate.

“I Aspire To Be a Writer”- A poem in which the Speaker addresses their desire to be a writer. Even though they have the drive (and assuming this was Pen’s point of view herself, she also has the talent.), they constantly worry about how to get started, their subject, and publishers. This poem addresses the insecurities and anxieties that creative people have when they work on something. They worry about how their message will be projected,  what will people think of it, or if anyone bothers reading it at all. The important thing in creation is not the doubts but being able to move past them and exploring talent and the process to the fullest.

“The Colorful Leaves”-A nature poem in which the Speaker illustrates their love of autumn. It is filled with visual imagery like the orange, purple, and red leaves and the anxious people worried about snow. The poem talks about the season’s transitional function as not yet cold for winter, not hot for summer, and not thought of as beautiful like spring. It is an in between season but this Speaker recognizes autumn’s own individual beauty and uniqueness.

“Drifting At Sea”-An extended metaphor in which the Speaker compares their life to a sea in which they are just drifting along. The Speaker feels like they are not in control of their life and things are just happening around them. Sometimes they feel that they are deliberately being set up to fail and all that they can do is just wait. It is very similar to Depression and how people who have it often feel disconnected from their lives. Even when they try to improve, they are still met with failure, rejection, and disappointment. They want to move but can't so they remain stuck and floating.

“The Four Walls”-A poem in which the Speaker thinks of their room as a sanctuary by protecting them from abuse but also a prison keeping them from facing that fear and getting away. The Speaker’s room protected them from the monsters, implying that they were abused as a child. As an adult, they realized that remaining hidden in their room was only a temporary reprieve. It took leaving and finding a safe place away from the abuse to really find inner peace.

“If I Were a Flower”-An extended metaphor in which The Speaker compares themselves to a flower. The Speaker asks their lover some difficult questions whether they would take away their beauty or rather their view of themselves, would they leave them, if they would forget about them, or would they leave them for other lovers. The Speaker is very insecure and even though is looked upon as someone of great beauty and emotion, is concerned whether their Lover’s feelings will change.

“The Importance of Boundaries”-A poem that addresses boundaries and The Speaker’s changing feelings towards them. They realized that boundaries aren't the signs of a bad person. They are a sign of limits, that someone can only take so much. There is a metaphor of animals that instinctively run from danger. The Speaker compares themselves to those animals who know to run and they do the same.

“Cultural Cash Out”-This poem addresses the problems of the “greedy culture” where people are cruel, ignorant, care only about making money, and step on those under them. Pen’s poems rarely get political but this one does. It addresses health care denial, the work grind, low pay, and the desire but not the opportunity of moving up. It's a cry of anger at a culture that not only doesn't care if people live or die but profit off of their death and destruction.

“Hope Has A Name of Ivory”-This poem addresses the Speaker’s Faith. The poem personifies Hope in human terms that it has beautiful eyes and gentle hands. Hope’s name is compared to ivory and gold, precious bones and metals that hold great value. It almost reads like a Medieval riddle poem in which Pen drops hints about who Hope’s human form is. The answer becomes obvious by the final stanza and shows the depths of the Speaker’s spiritual devotion and faith.

 From Emoji to Empathy: Mastering Customer Service in The Digital Era by Susan Williamson

In this Digital Age of virtual assistance, self checkout, prepayment, shopping online, and AI Interface, the human element is still important particularly in customer service. Like many other professions, customer service is adapting to modern technology. However, the human element is still a factor. Susan Williamson’s book From Emoji to Empathy: Mastering Customer Service in The Digital Era explores how customer service representatives still need to maintain empathy and interpersonal skills to give customers quality assistance.

One of the key factors in good customer service is emotional intelligence. That includes behaving with empathy and implementing active listening. Empathy allows one to understand what the customer needs and using the right probing questions to fully comprehend the situation and provide for their needs. Active listening is the process in which one summarizes, uses open ended questions, and allows the other person to verbalize their situation and make their own decisions. Emotional Intelligence can be used to pick up emotional cues like active observation, feedback analysis, and validating emotions.

It's important for customer service representatives to design memorable customer experiences and that involves identifying customer personas, mapping their journey, implementing feedback mechanisms, and analyzing trends. These procedures help representatives learn about the different types of people that they need to help, how the customer retains information, when the representative needs to probe and when to leave off, and individual personalities and needs of the various customers. In doing this, they can create  individual personalized experiences for different people and build variety into their busy days. Even personal creative touches like extra services, sales for regulars, or representatives remembering details such as regular customer’s names or birthdays add to a personalized experience that makes customers feel unique and individual.

Of course difficult customers are frequent and can make the customer service job extremely stressful. Williams's book peers into conflicts between representatives and customers. The step-by-step approach includes identifying the root cause, using “I” statements to communicate understanding, brainstorming solutions together, implementing and following through, and seeking feedback for continuous improvement. Things like tone variation, body language, mirroring positive customer behavior, cultural sensitivity regarding nonverbal cues, body language, and paying attention to communication barriers goes a long way to improve interaction. 

The book includes various examples of challenging interactions and describes how a representative should handle them. For example aggressive customers raise their voices, demand action, and use harsh language. The representative must stay calm. A simple phrase like “I understand that this is a frustrating situation. Let's work together to fix it” is helpful. Customers want to be heard so that approach makes them feel heard and validated. They can go from being combative to collaborative.

Technology presents its own issues with representatives integrating it in their work but also maintaining the human connection. Williamson suggests that workers can select the right tools, prioritize user friendliness, ensure integration capabilities, and conduct a cost-benefit analyses. Personal connection can be integrated with technology by making tech work with employees and not replace them, making human oversight an easy seamless process, using feedback loops to stay ahead of customer needs, and creating an emotional impact. 

This book tells customer service representatives that the best way to show good customer service is to increase the human connection while integrating and adapting to modern technology.

The Corsico Conspiracy by Raphael Sone 

While William Shakespeare’s name is practically synonymous with Dramatic Theater, English Literature, and The Elizabethan Era, there is still much about his life that remains a complete mystery. Between his marriage and career as a school teacher in Stratford Upon Avon to the time he began to establish himself as a playwright and actor with Lord Chamberlain’s Men, there is a ten year period in which he was undocumented. What happened during those ten years and what was he doing? He was married though frequently separated from his wife, Anne Hathaway and fathered three children, Susannah, Judith, and Hamnet by her (adding to their tempestuous marriage was that Susannah was born a mere five to six months after their marriage suggesting that Anne’s pregnancy was the reason for it.)

However some of his romantic sonnets are addressed to a Dark Lady,which the pale and fair haired Anne was not. Who was this Dark Lady and what was her and William's relationship really like? For that matter, Shakespeare was a country lad with a limited education mostly attributed to reading books and watching plays yet his plays suggest a vast intellect, creative talent, high education, traveling experience. Is it entirely possible that Shakespeare was only given the title of author and someone else actually wrote the plays, but who? Just what was Shakespeare’s relationship with Queen Elizabeth and King James really like? Many of his History plays trace back their family lineage and the lines in the plays often speak of deep respect for the Royals but during a time when religious schisms between the Protestants and Catholics, many of the plays show a more than passing acquaintance with Catholic rituals and beliefs. Also, the plays feature various conspiracies and uprisings against the people in charge. Was Shakespeare vilifying or encouraging the protests?

Historians, scholars and authors have addressed these questions in different ways. One of my favorite series, The Shakespearean Fantasy Series by Sarah A. Hoyt, gives a magical fantastic interpretation to these questions in which Bill encountered fairies on his path to literary immortality. Another possibility is the more realistic but still fascinating Historical Fiction novella, The Corsico Conspiracy by Raphael Sone. 

This interpretation suggests that Shakespeare was a closet Catholic in a predominantly Protestant country and spent time abroad in Southern Europe and Africa where he became involved in political conspiracy, espionage missions where he learned how to be a master of disguise, and romance with Amina Safuwa, a former apprentice nun who was the Dark Lady. Oh yes and his plays were written mostly by Edward de Vere, Earl of Oxford who did not want authorship credit. Shakespeare as a Lord Chamberlain's performer and later head was given sole credit. Though Shakespeare was no slouch in writing himself as he composed his own sonnets, the epic poems Venus and Adonis and Rape of Lucrece, and some of the plays himself by combining various sources that he read.

This is a brilliant book that drops some tantalizing theories that fill in the blanks of Shakespeare’s life. It fills them by Sone paying tribute to what would later be known about his life and work while dropping some interesting speculation about the parts that needed filling. His time in Rome, Spain, and particularly Corsico become fruitful in his education both as a spy and the head of an acting company.

 His training consists of adopting disguises and being in character through voice, mannerisms, and body language. One of his colleagues, Victoria is an example of a seasoned actor using their skills in the espionage game. She acts as a courier and go between while taking various forms, most notably as a hunchbacked old woman. Another character, Dr. Lopez has a variety of aliases and identities that he goes by including a final one which no doubt inspired many of Shakespeare's Comedy plays that involve mistaken identity and characters disguising themselves. 

Shakespeare is also given literary works to study that would later be instrumental in his theatrical work such as Hollingshead's Chronicles of England, Scotland, and Ireland (where the sources for his History plays and many of his tragedies like Macbeth began) and Plutarch’s Lives (where works like Julius Caesar and Anthony and Cleopatra originated). We see that many of the survival tools that later made him famous were based on research and observation.

Sone writes Shakespeare as compelling, complex, and contradictory as well the protagonist in a Shakespeare play. He does this by playing various roles to the public, his intimate circle, and to himself. He is a devout Catholic who is appalled by the treatment that his fellow practitioners receive at the hands of Queen Elizabeth, particularly his father who was arrested. He is involved in some pretty daring plots to restore the monarchy to Catholicism. Most notably late in the book he works behind the scenes during the infamous Gunpowder Plot headed by Guy Fawkes but he does not openly defy the monarchy.

 In fact he works so well behind the scenes that while he is under suspicion of conspiratorial ties, he is never arrested for them. There are some pretty tense moments where he comes close such as a performance of Richard II which escalates into a sting operation against conspirators. 

Shakespeare takes a pragmatic approach to rebellion. As the figurehead leader of his company of Players and a central figure in the rebellious espionage ring, he can't afford to give himself away by being openly defiant. If a spy goes down, that's terrible but results in the loss of one person. If he goes down, the whole network and acting company goes down with him.

 He knows when to restrain himself in the presence of superiors especially royalty. In fact, he develops such a good rapport with the Queen that after she is amused by Falstaff, the supporting character from Henry IV and V, she commands that Shakespeare write a Comedy about Falstaff in love resulting in The Merry Wives of Windsor.

As for the other Shakespeare mysteries, they lead to some interesting analysis to Shakespeare’s character. He shows that he is able to write effectively through his poems and sonnets. He also has some creative planning and thinking skills as he comes up with the idea of combining multiple sources to create a new work as he does with Romeo and Juliet combining one story about feuding families with another about separated lovers.

 However, the book suggests that the dubious authorship is born because of mutual insecurities. Shakespeare needs to be seen as the head of Lord Chamberlain's Men but is concerned that his lack of formal education and rural background would be barriers in his writing. De Vere is a nobleman with tremendous talent but is concerned that his acknowledged authorship would be a threat to his status. Plus they are both involved within the Catholic community so they work out a deal. De Vere writes and sends the plays, Shakespeare accepts credit and his troupe produces and performs them. Also their plays contained coded messages and inside references to the Catholic community.

Amina is also compelling even if her appearances shorten as the book continues. She is strong willed and devoted to her causes as much as Shakespeare is but because of her physical appearance in Renaissance England, she doesn't have the luxury of hiding in public the way her lover does. As a result, they spend a large part of the book separated by distance and authority. However, the time that they spend is seen as a meeting between two strong feisty individuals who stand equally to one another. Amina and Shakespeare”s relationship in the book results in some intriguing plot twists that add to the speculation that the book conveys.

The Corsico Conspiracy shows that like his characters Shakespeare knew that the world was a stage so he was ready to play many parts.

Weekly Reader: Rose: Future Heart by Jazalyn; Jazalyn's Best Poetry Book Takes a Floral Analogy Towards Introversion, Solitude, Loneliness, Pain, and Search for Love

 

Weekly Reader: Rose: Future Heart by Jazalyn; Jazalyn's Best Poetry Book Takes a Floral Analogy Towards Introversion, Solitude, Loneliness, Pain, and Search for Love

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Well we had a Science Fiction book of poetry that was heavy on plot. Then it was followed by a poetic ghost story that was rich in character. How does Jazalyn choose to end this trilogy and save the best for last? By giving us an allegory that is the strongest on an emotional lyrical level of course.

Rose: Future Heart is an evocative and lyrical story of a rose who is trying to survive in a world of physical and emotional abuse. While VVIIRRUUSS had the strongest plot and Hollow the strongest characterization, Rose has the most poetic sense of lyric, metaphor, and allegory.

In "Rise Rose Risen," the Rose recalls the many forms in which it took in the past,"Past rose/In bad memories/Hate rose/In bad feelings/Future rose/From good moments/Love rose/From good emotions/Evil has risen/And will do it again/Good has risen/And will do it again."

This poem uses the word "rose" as a double meaning. Rose as in the flower but also as the verb. The poem talks about the rise in the past and future and so on. How these important times leave their marks, both good and bad.

The Rose describes itself as someone who had always been a bud. It became moral and closed its heart to become divine. In "Rose: Future Heart," it says "I passed through evil waves/The contamination/Of the field/Was so intense/That brought eternal darkness/Still the rose/Stood strong/And retained the youth/And as a result/For a future collision." The physical hardships have transformed the Rose though it remains strong through the trouble.

The physical hardships that the Rose ensures give it a defense against those who hurt it. In almost mythological overtones, the poem "Oxygen Thorns" reveals the literal and figurative thorns that develops on the Rose as a defense against the struggles. Jazalyn writes, "The thorns conspired/And tried to ruin the beauty/The rose had in plentifulness/Pushed away/Whoever tried to reach." 

However, the thorns also provided something else: oxygen. It not only gave the Rose the ability to defend itself but to survive. The poem continues, "Then the rose raged/Took the thorns/And transformed them/Into leaves/Then spread oxygen." Ironically, that which makes the rose hard to touch also allows it to breathe and live.

The Rose is in search of love, real love not necessarily erotic love, but one of selflessness and spirituality. The repetitive poem, "I Was Crying (For) Love Until I Became a Whisper," is similar to the myth of Echo and Narcissus, in which Echo the nymph was cursed to only repeat the words another said. She could not declare her love for the handsome Narcissus as he stared at his own reflection, thinking that it was an unrequited love. Echo's form faded away until it became nothing more than a voice.

Likewise, the Rose cries out for love in a sad and lonely world until no one hears it. The repetition of the poem in which the Rose laments "I cried  love…/I cried pain…/I cried life…/Until I became a whisper" suggests that it is tired of crying out and wants to be heard.

 However, at the end there is a peculiar break where the final two lines say "Until I became a whisper/Until…." And it just stopped. Possibly, the Rose is no longer heard but it is also just as possible that someone had heard it. Maybe finally, someone understood the cries and now their crying can temporarily cease.

It becomes apparent that the Rose stands as a metaphor for the lonely, the loveless, those that seem to be surrounded by love but feel none for themselves. Beautiful souls that built thorns of defense but still cry out to be heard. The book Rose: Future Heart is an allegory about the search for love in a sometimes uncaring and love obsessed world.

When we are surrounded by scenes of love, we become confused by the view of love bestowed by others particularly through popular culture.

"Entertainment Made Me Love Like That," shows the Rose (I will continue to refer to the speaker as the Rose) recounted the constant repetition of love in songs and movies and how they obtained and unreasonable assumptions of love. The poem says, "I would probably never have developed emotions/If I wasn't exposed to music's lyrics/To cinema's romantic scenes." The Rose is surrounded by fictional images of love and believes that is how life should be in real life.

Along with the worries of love, the Rose wonders about insanity, whether the signs of loneliness are also signs of depression and mental illness. "The Signs (Earlization)" portrays that worry, if someone recognizes the signs of mental illness and wonders if that's why they prefer to be alone. 

The poem says "I'm trying to see/And connect/The correct/Thoughts/And I succeed/But still/I'm afraid I'll do/A wrong move/I'm confused/Inside my mind/I need an information input/Through natural sound/I need to hear/The right words/In the right order/I need eaRlization." The Rose is confused and needs to know whether its thoughts are normal or lead to other problems. If it is unwell, could that be why love is hard to reach?

The Rose has to face the deepest emotions, love and hate. Sometimes those emotions are so intense that they work together. In, "Love Took Me to Hate" it thinks, "Love took me to hate/And I gained much/But I also lost touch/With myself/Love took me to hate/And I started living/Then I realized/It was a temporary path/That I should pass by."

In being introduced to love, the Rose was also introduced to hate. However, it also realizes that hate could be a temporary step towards understanding love.

Sometimes there are benefits to living a solitary life. Many are content to be alone with their thoughts. Though Rose still wants to experience love, it also sees some advantages to being alone. 

In "This Silence, The Rose describes themselves as "I'm good, kind, and nice/With everyone/But I stay away/From friendships/And relationships/Because I don't have time/To lose/With people who won't appreciate it."

The silence allows the Rose to think and reflect, to stay away from the faithless and decide what they really want in love.

Searching for love sometimes involves plenty of bad dates, going through those who are not always worth going out with. In "Self-Partnered," the Rose goes out with someone who identifies as "self-

partnered," (single). Unfortunately, self-partnering does not mean that they aren't with others. After the lover is caught cheating, the Rose admonishes "But it seems/You're a lie/And you broke our secret oath/Cause you have changed/So many lovers all this time/Or not?/What are all these things/Perhaps they are fake scenes/Like many other things/But don't at least don't say/'I'm self-partnered/When you intend to have partners/Damaged your image/At least in my eyes." Ironically, the Rose isn't as upset about the lover's mistreatment as it is angry that the lover can't be honest with themselves.

In the poem, "Im-Possible Dream", the Rose acknowledges that it lives in a hard world of sadness, want, faithlessness, anger, and rage but it isn't going to stop dreaming of a better world. With a gift for changing words, Jazalyn rewrites impossible into something else. One remembering its dreams, the Rose says "Others may call it crazy/And I thought I was a megalomaniac/But deep down inside/I know that I belonged/In this impossible dream/And now I shout out loud/"I'm possible dream." Changing the words from impossible to I'm possible changes Rose's thought patterns. Its dreams are no longer far away and remote. Instead, they are approachable.

Because of the search for love, the Rose has changed. Its appearance brings it beauty, but the thorns are painful, almost beastly. So naturally, Jazalyn would create a mythological allegory between the protagonist and the fairy tale, Beauty and the Beast. However, this variation is different. While the plot of the fairy tale hinges on the Beast changing their form, the Rose accepts both aspects of itself.

In "Beauty in the Beast," the Rose says "I had the beauty/Of being normal/But then I encountered/Society's injustices/And I went out of my head/I'm not a beast/I'm more moral than anyone/And if I had the right conditions in my life/I could find myself again." The injustices that the Rose encountered has forced it to bring forward a side to itself that it didn't want, a tougher stronger side that is still moral but sees the world and love as it really is: painful, beautiful, hard, warm, both good and bad.

After all the searching, the Rose does find love. It had to go through the hurt and pain before it could experience and feel love. It discovers that real love is something that makes you look at the world and yourself differently.

In "Love Does That," the Rose reflects "Feelings make you feel beautifully/And they make you feel like you're beautiful/No matter how you look to others/You believe you are likable/….You see the world brighter/You are happier/You want to be better/To gain mutuality." The Rose now understands that loving others is also the key to loving oneself. 

The extended metaphors and deep emotion provide allegory to the fantasy of a rose learning to recognize her inner beauty and character. Anyone can understand this journey, because we have all been there.

Weekly Reader: VVIIRRUUSS by Jazzalyn; Poetic Science Fiction Meditations on Technology, Memories, Emotions, and What it Means to be Human

 

Weekly Reader: VVIIRRUUSS by Jazalyn; Poetic Science Fiction Meditations on Technology, Memories, Emotions, and What it Means to be Human

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Last year I read Mazarine Dreamer by Francessca Bella, a fantasy novel about time travel told in poetry. Jazalyn is another poet/author that does the same tactics. She writes speculative fiction in the form of a series of poems. However, their approaches couldn't be more different. Bella is more interested in telling a story, capturing a narrative with rhyming couplets. It is an imaginative and creative way of writing a narrative story and Bella captures it beautifully.

Jazalyn also tells a story but is more interested in the internal. The books of poetry have a plot that surrounds the books. But the poems capture the emotions, the thoughts of characters captured in these stories. They are more lyrical and thoughtful and not as driven by plot. Instead, they are driven by emotions of the people that experience the plot.

Three of Jazalyn's books of poetry will be reviewed. Of the three, VVIIRRUUSS is probably the most plot heavy. In the future, viruses will spread and have the power to change humanity. 

The helplessness and lack of knowledge to defeat the first virus is felt in the first poem, "Quantum Waves". 

Jazalyn writes, "A pattern/Of respiration/Occurs from the language processing/But they all think/It's the sound waves/That enter the ears/From the cellphones." The virus comes so fast that no one recognizes or knows how to stop it.

The real curse from the first virus, Virus 0.1 is the madness that it brings by exposing thoughts and memories to public consciousness inducing madness within the individuals. In the poem, "Virus 0.1" the cost is revealed, "The lies/Caused by hate and madness/In a prospect of death/And the departure/Was the only rescue/In this world." 

This experience is felt by one of the characters who lives in a perpetual state of fear and anxiety. However, the Speaker knows that there is something wrong with the system in which they live that is worse than any virus. 

In the poem "Virus Code" they think "The paradigm shift/Let me into this simulation/Because I hate my life/And I want to change it/But a behavior change/Demands to alter the DNA/After a search of self/Inside obstacles/I didn't believe it/But anyway it's no one's fault/We are machines/With free will/To live & love/And now there is only/A total eclipse of pain."

There are few possibilities to the identity of the Speaker in "Virus Code". It could be a personification of the Code itself filled with anxiety over what it is being used to do to combat the virus. It is aware that it is a machine and is therefore sentient and is in fear of what it will become when it encounters the virus.

The other possibility is that the Speaker is a human who has the virus. However, what many see as madness may be seeing the truth for the first time. That the Speaker may realize that they are a machine in a system in which they can be changed and reprogrammed.

The thought of being reprogrammed is what is recounted in the next virus and the poem, "VVIIRRUUSS." To combat the virus, the authorities created a counter virus. Unfortunately, the two combined to form an even worse virus. 

The second was supposed to help the public forget the memories that were out in the open. However, the VVIIRRUUSS appears to restore the private memories, but appears to destroy the soul. 

Jazalyn writes,"Everything happens for a reason/Everyone says/Trying to make sense/Of what occurs in their life/And in reality/But in fact/The truth is that/Everything happens for another reason/Nature is altering the DNA/To reduce passions/Now that the environment needs a new future." 

It shows that in trying to fix a problem, society often creates new problems. Also that the system tried to alter the DNA to install their form of perfection. The trouble is eventually nature evolves and will alter the DNA on its own.

Many of the poems are filled with the paranoia, fear, anxiety of a world surrounded by these viruses. Violence breaks out and close ties are broken by the stress of these viruses. 

In the poem, "Apocalypse Revolution," everyone sees the truth around them and realizes what a valuable commodity it is. "Truth is embarrassing/Truth's not reality/Truth's a strategy;/They silence it with money/They hide it with guns/And they pass what they want to pass." Unfortunately, the truth can be covered up and changed by laws and regulations. Just like the viruses in the book, it has been reprogrammed by humans into something else. Hiding or disguising the truth only makes it worse.

There are plenty of poems in this book that discuss deeper emotions like love, anger, and sadness. In a couple of poems, the Speaker compares themselves to the Joker as played by Joaquin Phoenix in the 2019 film. While the Joker displays psychopathic tendencies, the Speaker understands that the character lives in a society that doesn't understand him.

In the bluntly titled, "I Sympathize with This Joker," The Speaker recognizes their own need to make themselves be heard but also to not resort to Arthur Fleck/The Joker's violent tactics. "I hate criminal acts/I want peace/But I worry/That all humanity is to blame/For the rise of evil/So we must understand/That we're all responsible for it."

 In this world of viruses where human experiences are being muted, it is important for someone to recognize human flaws, frailties, and emotions knowing that what makes people outsiders make them the most human and honest. It also reveals that sometimes a person that society perceives as crazy might actually be able to see and understand the truth and call society to face it with all of its ugliness and honesty.

Of the most important human experiences is the ability to love and to be loved in return. The Speaker in "To Be Well," has this desire. After being put through the system and even being institutionalized The Speaker still longs to feel a human connection. "I don't ask/For anything irrational/And I'm not a criminal;/I know I deserve it/To be with someone/Who really loves me/Not necessarily romantically."

 It is a somewhat cynical plea as the Speaker has been through so much physical, emotional, and psychological torment that they can't imagine love being near them. They wonder if love has the power to help them out of this loneliness society has bestowed upon them. Still they hope and that is what keeps them alive.

Besides emotions, what makes us human are our memories, our real memories, our past even if we can't always remember the exact details (like those with Alzheimer's or amnesia They don't always remember the people or events around them but know that they are close to people and are loved). To know and feel those connections with others.

The poem, "The Memories Are The Only Justice," reveals that recognizing those human traits are the true victories and The best way to combat the viruses in this story and the society that tries to expose us in fiction and reality. 

Jazalyn writes, "When the truth/Becomes fear/It's altered/But reveal/The memories/Of light/And you'll be free/Now that the memories are out/Keep them there/Forever;/It's the only justice/In this corrupted earth."

When things that make us human like thought and emotions can be changed, reprogrammed, and put out to the public to be scrutinized and judged, it is important to recognize those traits.

The poems reflect the importance of memories and holding onto emotions like love and loss in a time when humanity is being quantified and measured. To do that is to truly be human.

Lit List Short Reviews Blight and The Blarney by Rosemary J. Kind; The British Marine Engineer Poems and Stories by Lianna Margiva; Don't Floss by Deleon DeMicoli; Left by Stefanie Hutcheson; Requisite Records of a Misplaced Hero by Envy Mercury

 Lit List Short Reviews Blight and The Blarney by Rosemary J. Kind; The British Marine Engineer Poems and Stories by Lianna Margiva; Don't Floss by Deleon DeMicoli; Left by Stefanie Hutcheson; Requisite Records of a Misplaced Hero by Envy Mercury

Blight and The Blarney (The Tales of Flynn and Reilly) by Rosemary J. Kind

Blight and The Blarney by Rosemary J. Kind is a detailed and heartbreaking novella about a family faced with poverty, starvation, and some very tough decisions during the Irish Potato Famine.

In 1852, the Flynn Family was impoverished and on the brink of starvation. Potatoes no longer grow well in Ireland because of a blight and the English government evicts several Irish tenants and are extremely slow in responding with aid. Family patriarch, Michael is milling an offer from his landlord (one of the few kind ones) to move himself and his family to America. Of course it means saying goodbye to everyone and everything that they ever knew so it's a giant step. Things get even more complicated when Michael's brother, brother in law, and their families get evicted turning a homestead with barely enough to feed four into an overcrowded house of twelve. It doesn't help that Michael's brother in law, Seamus, is getting fed up with the mistreatment and looking towards more politically active and violent means to fight against the English.

Even though The Blight and The Blarney is short, it packs quite an emotional punch. Enough of a punch that any longer and it would be overdone. The most heart wrenching moment occurs during the death of one of the central characters. The illness is long term so it's not a surprise when it happens. But the build up and loss are moving and tug at every emotional fiber that the Reader has. 

The book is also good at showing different ways people react to difficult times without judgment or saying which way is the best way. Some like Michael opt for more peaceful resolutions like taking care of their family first and sometimes move on to another place. Others like Seamus fight against the circumstances that cause this misfortune and against those who profit off of it. Neither way is looked at as wrong or right and sometimes those choices lead to harder ones later on.

Unfortunately, the end of the novella suggests even more strife for the Flynn Family and the title of the next volume, New York Orphan, suggests there will be much more heartbreak and tougher choices to come.

British Marine Engineer Poems and Stories by Lianna Margiva

Liana Margiva's British Marine Engineer Poems and Stories is a dark, moving, depressing, and sometimes disturbing anthology about love and loss.

"The British Marine Engineer" is a moving story about lost love and second opportunities that arrive almost too late. Lorena, a Russian woman, falls for Douglas, a widowed British marine engineer. The two engage in a love affair and exchange passionate letters despite cultural differences and physical separation. They make plans to get married but are separated by circumstances beyond their control.

The love story between Douglas and Lorena is moving. Since they are in their 60's and 80's respectively, one gets the idea that since they are so much older, this may be their last chance for love. The letters that the two exchange are romantic but filled with an awareness of loss and sadness. This makes their separation all the more emotional because this was a couple who waited their whole lives for this kind of happiness only to have it snatched away.

"The Witch" is a twisted tale of revenge and obsession. After she learns that her husband, Marco, has been cheating on her with her friend, Emily vows to get revenge. An elderly woman, Granny, discovers that Emily is a fellow witch so Emily uses her new found abilities to get even.

"The Witch" is a strange tale with an even stranger protagonist. Many could understand and relate to Emily's anger about being betrayed but some of her actions are questionable. Most alarming is when she entices a young woman dying from a venereal disease (implied to be AIDS) to sleep with Marco purposely to infect him. She cares very  little for this woman's welfare, only what she can do for her. Involving Marco and Emily is one thing, but pimping out and destroying an innocent party's short life is another.

What does save this situation is that the story shows that Emily's desire for revenge ruins her. It seems to turn on her own health and personality (perhaps a visual representation of the beliefs that some Wiccans have over the Rule of Three: What you send out to the universe returns to you threefold). Both Emily and Marco end up as miserable people and somehow get the most acceptable deserving punishment in the end.

"Vincent Island" is a story of a troubled relationship in a beautiful setting. In the lovely Vincent Island, newcomer Ofra and local Spartacus fall in love. Unfortunately, their love is tested by rumors of infidelity and an affliction that consumes the island's residents.

"Vincent Island '' spends a great deal of time describing the setting as a beautiful vacation spot with sunny beaches, easy going people, and unique customs. It's the kind of place where one would think nothing could go wrong which of course means that it is going to. The dichotomy between setting and character is intentional as the beautiful Paradise location can't contain the dark souls that inhabit it.

Of the stories in this anthology, this probably has some of the lightest moments partly because of the setting but also the writing. Ofra makes friends with a woman named Desdemona who talks about her exes Othello and Hamlet (Someone not only brushed up their Shakespeare but they mixed him up as well.) The mostly light tone makes the ending somewhat jarring and out of place but it is also well written.

There are foreshadowing hints throughout the story that Ofra and Spartacus are not destined for a good ending. The island's residents have some regulations regarding the end of the relationship and Ofra receives hints from others that her relationship is not as strong as she believes it to be. The ending suggests that their end is inevitably likely to end badly.

The anthology also contains shorter poems and essays. All of them, like the stories, carry a somber feeling that love and loss unfortunately go together. 

Don't Floss by Deleon DeMicoli

Deleon DiMicoli's Don't Floss is a very broad parody about a renegade gang of dentists who plot to take over the world (Yeah you read that right). It almost reads like a Month Python sketch or an animated cartoon with its odd premise and over the top farcical characters.

Divorced private investigator Hugo Picoli is hired by a woman named Farrah to look for her missing dentist husband, Jolly. The last anyone saw Jolly was when he got rough with a teenage boy who harassed his mother. The first place to ask questions is Crowns Social Club, a hangout for all the prominent dentists. Of course they aren't exactly forthcoming with information.

 Oh yes and  Hugo's ex wife, Frida, a social activist and Beef, a reality show star/ex football player get involved. That's not to mention the secret behind dental floss. The plot gets convoluted and more confusing as it goes along

The plot and characters are broad and farcical to the point where it's hard to take anything in the book seriously. Since it's a short work, it's hard to see beyond the face value of parody. One could believe that the ridiculous idea of a conspiracy involving dental floss and an organization of dentists could be making fun of real life conspiracy theories. Those theories are just as arbitrary and sound just as ridiculous as the real life ones so much so that it's hard to tell what's a parody and what's real.

There are some moments of genuine suspense like a kidnapping attempt and a few chase scenes which show people getting hurt and worrying about the consequences. But most of the writing is played for laughs and with a short length that's all it has or needs.

Sometimes with a parody you can search for meaning. Sometimes you can search for laughs. With Don't Floss, it's definitely the latter.

Left by Stefanie Hutcheson

Stefanie Hutcheson's George and Mabel trilogy is a series of sweet and moving stories about a lovely middle aged couple who are happily married and spread that love towards others. Her follow up, Left could be described as the "Anti-George and Mabel." It is about a married couple on their last nerve who are miserable either together or separate.

An unnamed husband and wife are to say the least having the mother of all marital troubles. One day the wife just leaves her husband at a convenient store leaving him to walk home alone. Most of the book consists of the husband at home in denial about the decline of his marriage and struggling to commit to his daily activities and the wife's time of self proclaimed freedom in hotels which are not free from loneliness or guilty feelings.

Left spends a lot of time deconstructing the couple's marriage and shows that while the end is a surprise to the somewhat oblivious husband, it's not to the wife. It comes after years of silence, small talk, tolerating annoying habits, and having little to do with each other. In her eyes, it's not the decline of their marriage that is a surprise, it's the way that it happens. She second guesses herself not for leaving him at all but leaving him at the convenience store (which is admittedly pretty low. She couldn't have driven him home and left him afterwards?) 

The husband and wife are the ultimate can't live with them can't live without them pair. As the husband goes through his shock and denial, he realizes that yes his marriage wasn't as perfect as he remembers and yes they had flaws that neither could live with. Meanwhile, the wife's guilt over the faltering marriage takes over her independent life in hotels. Their feelings reverse as the separation strengthens him but weakens her.

Left ends on a heartbreaking but unfortunately inevitable note as the couple who had so little to say to each other, so little in common except some exchanged vows said years ago, are finally deprived of the chance to actually talk, reconcile, or find any sort of closure. 

George and Mabel they're definitely not.

The Requisite Records for a Misplaced Hero by Envy Mercury

Though brief, Envy Mercury's The Requisite Records of a Misplaced Hero is a unique voice in the Epic Fantasy genre. It takes the Chosen One story to a different level by showing what happens to the Chosen One after the legend is over, the foe is vanquished, and the hero returns to the normal world older but maybe no less wiser.

 

About twenty years after he rescued a fantasy kingdom, saved a princess, and returned to the ordinary world, Beck finds himself coasting along in said ordinary world. He is stuck in a job that he hates, is addicted to drugs, has PTSD, and has huge gaps in his memory that occurred during his fantasy life which he doesn't remember. 

One day he passes out and finds himself surrounded by anthropomorphic humanoid creatures. He is referred to as Rezner, Prince of Darkness, and is either welcomed back or cursed because of his return. Sure enough Beck is back in the fantasy world in which he left behind previously and has to fight former enemies out for revenge while reuniting with former allies like the demon familiar, Mecci and Princess Valentine, his former love interest.

This is a short work that can definitely be longer. While it makes sense to skim over Beck's previous adventure (after all it would be the standard paint by numbers epic fantasy), Beck's return and adult life could use more dissection. Here we have the life of a hero after the return. Beck is someone who is floating along in the real world because he doesn't feel a part of it. Even though he doesn't remember his time there, he is haunted by those missing memories. He loses himself in drugs and apathy so he can reach a place that is in the far reaches of his memory. He knows it but he can't quite see it.

Of course no sooner are we introduced to Beck than he returns to the world and reunited with the friends that he doesn't quite remember. Because his memories are misplaced, he has to practically be carried along by the more self assured stronger characters like Mecci. Everything is a new, or rather familiar but not quite, experience so he really doesn't know what he's doing. His decision to stay is made less for altruistic reasons to help out and is more because there is no one to miss him in the real world where he is considered a loser. He would rather be in a world where people admire, befriend, and some would fight and die for him. Of course his journey strengthens him and reopens talents and experiences that were never gone, just hidden.

The Requisite Records for a Misplaced Hero is a unique voice in the sometimes overdone epic fantasy genre. It's a brilliant idea that needs more exploration.

New Book Alert: Mazarine Dreamer by Francessca Bella; Novel Length Poem Is Long on Fantasy and Reincarnated Romance

New Book Alert: Mazarine Dreamer by Francessca Bella; Novel Length Poem Is Long on Fantasy and Reincarnated Romance 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Did I mention that reincarnated lovers and time travel romances were one of the top themes this year? After Canvas of Time by Amelie Pimont, Rosemary for Remembrance by Nikki Broadwell, Trapped in Time by Denise Daye, Eternally Artemisia by Melissa Muldoon, The Reincanationist Papers by D. Eric Maikrantz, Demons of Time: Race to the 7th Sunset by Varun Sayal, One Night in Paris by Juliette Sobanet, The Amber Crane by Malve Van Hassel, and The Love of the Tayamni Series by T.A. McLaughlin. Why not end the year right with another one?

So how does one make a frequently done theme work? One way is to do what Francessca Bella did, turn your reincarnated fantasy romance into pure poetry, literally.

What makes Bella's The Mazarine Dreamer stand out is its execution. Bella wrote the book in poetic format creating a novel length poem. It's a difficult endeavor. (Indeed, I tried to write this review in poetry form as a reaction but it didn't work very well so I used prose.) But Bella not only deserves props for trying, she deserves it for succeeding.

The plot involves Flavia Mavaret, a psychologist. Flavia interviews a monk who is either suffering from hallucinations or is possessed. She does some studying and learns that Pastello Abbey, the current monastery, has a curse on it.  There have been at least three accounts of mysterious deaths and disappearances affecting Pastello since the Renaissance (at least three that are reported.)

While investigating the abbey and its surroundings, Flavia follows a carrier pigeon to the wooden caravan home of Madame Idona, a mediatress and past life expert. Idona reveals that Flavia is the reincarnation of a woman who was caught in a love triangle in the Renaissance that ended very badly.

Idona gives Flavia the chance to go back in time to set things right. She is to wear a bracelet on her wrist and when a pigeon appears before her, she must recite the Latin words on the scroll that it carries.

Once Flavia travels back in time, she encounters Nevian Evegane, a Renaissance scientist who is trying to breed a clowder of battle cats called the calor. The Renaissance version of Flavia is engaged to Nevian but things aren't going well, mostly because of Nevian's obsession with calor breeding and his  arrogant bordering on abusive behavior. During a tense argument, Flavia goes to the nearby Briarfield estate and encounters Seron Briarfield, a charming artist and magician and the other third of the triangle.

If things weren't complicated enough in the Renaissance, Flavia can travel between past and present. In modern day, Flavia is investigating the curse on Pastello and a sinister creature called Mortis Nuntius. She also catches the attention of her colleague, Netius Eveseen, an intelligent and driven physicist with an interest in zoology and Netius' friend, Lero Monteith, an illustrator with an interest in magic. What a coincidence, Netius and Lero bear strong resemblances to Nevian and Soren respectively and before too long, it appears that the triangle echoes once again and history is cursed to repeat itself.

Bella shows tremendous aptitude for the mechanics of poetry such as rhyme and meter. She begins her work with "So now, my heart a lacked complexity/I work to decode for salvation  its perplexity." 

Since the book is written in rhyming couplet, there are times when Bella really stretches for a near rhyme like "pounders and blunders."(She also solves the riddle that if you find an unrhymable word like orange just have the characters make up a word like "apporange." It worked when Lewis Carroll did it.) Of course if you are writing a novel in poetic form, not every line is going to be great and it doesn't take away the tremendous achievement and talent in writing the book this way in the first place.

Bella was clearly inspired by the Romantic poetry narratives of the past. There is a strong sense of respect for the natural and supernatural world that is spread throughout the work. Flavia is fascinated with pure white albino animals. She herself has albinism and is often recognized for her uncommon appearance. So she relates to these physically unique creatures. Many times pale animals like foxes, birds, cats, and rabbits appear before sharing a psychic connection or to guide her.

Besides the natural world, there are strong ties to the supernatural world.

The book has plenty of magic and an awareness of motifs and themes found in fairy tales and Romantic poetry.

Idona is similar to the wise guide/Mentor figure who gives the protagonist the task and advises them on what path they need to take. 

There are curses and demons. Flavia is haunted by a demonic figure that delights in mentally torturing her and those it encounters.

 The animals are not just a natural connection to Flavia but also a magical one as they lead her to various steps on her quest. There are various motifs that can be found in such works like the Rule of Three (three magic words that Flavia has to recite to travel through time; three encounters at Pastello before Flavia investigated it). 

Color and imagery are also used to capture Romantic Fantasy. Bella's writing helps the Reader visualize the book in front of them.

One of my favorite stanzas shows the transition between past and present as her bracelet transports her.

Flavia says:

"A moving Mazarine fog and I synchronized

the sole two things in existence organized

We shared definition and became premium

to make the presiding magic medium

a true traveling point between my mod life

as Flavia Mavaret and one with past ride

set five hundred years back in the Renaissance

It promised to return me to ancient haunts

Encapsulated into that blue abyss, I experienced

feelings again. They dramatically influenced me as I infused with the color mazarine and became a softer dreamer in its scene

Life I gained inside it, so my understanding 

of it changed thickly into one for demanding

a mazarine transcendence. A blue beyond 

warded off death. In its abyss, I did abscond

Fading slowly away was that blue and mist-swirled 

Surrealism to give way to an alt-world."

Mazarine ends up functioning as a color that represents spirituality and time. It is a conduit between the worlds of past and present and allows Flavia to travel between them. The Mazarine Dreamer is like a study of Romantic fantasy and the tropes that are found inside them.

Flavia herself goes through the various steps of the Hero's Journey such as the Call to Adventure, Refusing the Call, Challenges, Transformation, Atonement, and Return.

Like many heroes before her, Flavia is not the same person that she was before. She begins as a modern woman certain about her career and her place in the world as a psychologist. Though she is curious and open minded enough to accept ideas as magic, she isn't experienced in them personally. This experience of traveling through time opens her mind to become a more understanding and accepting character, especially towards other people who remember their former lives or are  maybe carrying issues and fears that resonated into their current live. She becomes a guide to them the way Idona was for her.

There is a theme of physical vs. metaphysical throughout the Mazarine Dreamer and much of it is carried over by the two (technically four) men in Flavia's life.

In the past, Nevian and Soren firmly stand on opposite sides of the Renaissance ideal. Nevian is all about Reason and science. He is cold and methodical. When he receives the commission to create calors, that becomes his central obsession. He is arrogant in his pursuits and he is condescending and verbally abusive towards Flavia.

On the other hand, Soren stands on the opposite spectrum. He believes in magic not science and has a spiritual connection to the world around him. He is more emotional and Romantic and soothes the loneliness that Flavia feels.

Unfortunately, Soren and Nevian being pitched at opposite extremes works thematically but not plot wise. Thematically, they represent two ideals that are often at odds with which Flavia balances both extremes out, being scientific but open minded,rational in analyzing patient's concerns but emotional enough to be concerned for their welfare. 

Unfortunately, for the plot of an important love triangle which ends in tragedy, it doesn't quite work when one third of the triangle is portrayed as so much better or worse than the other. Nevian is written for the most part as irredeemable and reprehensible. His interest in science is fascinating but the shameful way that he treats Flavia makes any option of him ending up with her troublesome at best. Seron is clearly the better prospect but that takes out the conflicted possibilities that could have resulted in better characters.

Actually Bella does present a more nuanced triangle in the present between Flavia, Netius, and Lero. Like their predecessors, Netius and Lero also stand on opposite sides of the Romance vs. Reason debate but their positions are more fluid. They often overlap with their views.

While Netius is a physicist and can at times be arrogant, he has an almost poetic affection for zoology and biology, almost recognizing deeper connections in the world around him. He also has enough of an open mind that he understands Flavia's experience and doesn't condescend to her when she tells him what is going on.

Lero is an illustrator with a much more emotional and spiritual side. However, he has a medical awareness as he sketches the human heart. Interestingly enough while Soren is the better prospect for Flavia in the past, Lero somewhat falters in the present. There are times when he behaves very immaturely and crosses boundaries especially after Flavia and Netius become involved.

While Nevian and Soren have the more Renaissance view of characters reflecting one thing or another, Netius and Lero are from a more postmodern view. People in literature are more complex than they were. They are not one thing or another. Sometimes their views and personalities adapt or overlap and that's what Bella displays in the modern era and how she portrays the separate triangles both past and present.

The Mazarine Dreamer is a beautiful poetic experiment that works very well. It takes the themes of reincarnation and love existing through time and finds a new interesting way to tell it. It's not an easy read, but it is well worth it.

New Book Alert: The If Way: The Power of 100 Ifs by Imagine Singh; Poetry of Imaginative and Clever Possibilities

 

New Book Alert: The If Way: The Power of 100 Ifs by Imagine Singh; Poetry of Imaginative and Clever Possibilities 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Imagine Singh is the type of poet who loves to dream up different possibilities and put them into words. That is exactly what he does in his book, The If Way The Power of 100's. This book is a series of poems that imagine different scenarios.

Singh's poems are very pleasant and clever, somewhat reminiscent of Dr. Seuss by way of Lewis Carroll. They start with a an idea such as "If Time Reserved Its Direction." Then the stanzas ruminate on what could happen in that scenario.("The old would be young and/The young would be children./The population of the world now in billions/Would turn into some millions.") Each poem is like that.

Even though the format is the same for each poem, the ideas that Singh writes about keep each poem appear fresh and new as well  as fun engaging. Titles range from "If the Question is Q" to "If We Could Touch Emotions." Topics range from geography ("If All Countries Could Be One"), science ("If All Magnets Suddenly Disappeared Into Thin Air"), biology ("If We Could See With Our Ears and Listen With Our Eyes"), animals ("If Animals Had The Power To Think"), weather ("If We Could Swap Seasons Between Different Regions"), history ("If We Could Witness The Past As Time Flies"), economics ("If We Were All Very Rich and No One Was Poor"), families ("If We Could Become Our Parents For One Day"), and interconnectivity ("If Everybody Listened To Us It Would All Be Very Nice.") among others.

The poems rhyme scheme are simple rhyming couplets that would attract younger Readers. For example, "If We Circled The Earth and Lived On The Moon's" opening lines are "If we circked the Earth and lived on the moon/We might not like to come back to Earth anytime soon." 

There is also some lovely imagery that activates the senses. The poem, "If Colors Could Express Themselves In Words"  is rich with lines like "Red would be the loudest of all/And black would be the proudest of all/Indigo, somewhat depressed, would most of the times be a little bit snappy/Violet, somewhat bright would always be happy." The rhyme scheme and imagery help contribute to making these poems a delightful reading experience.

The possibilities that Singh imagined are filled with interesting scenarios that almost evoke a dream state. The poem, "If We Lived Undersea" describes the wealthy having air pools, and residents fighting with octopuses and racing with fish. Singh clearly had a wonderful time dreaming up these possibilities. It would be an interesting educational experience for teachers to use this book to have students write their own possibilities of things that they would like to see in the world.

While most of the poems evoke a sense of fun, childlike situations, and fantasy, some of Singh's poems strike at the very heart of social commentary. One poem, "If We Could Have A Cure For Human Lust, Greed, and Hate," is blunt but meaningful. "There would be no crimes against humanity/Good sense and love would prevail against insanity/Women would lead a life of dignity and grace/Every man would be humanity's englightened face." Even though, it would be hard to implement such change in reality, nothing can or should stop one from dreaming, imagining, visualizing, or writing about it. 

In The If Way, Singh opens a world of dreams and possibilities and invites the Reader to come along. Sometimes the dream world is better, brighter, and more evocative than the real world. Imagine Singh gives a wonderful tour into his.