Monday, February 9, 2009

MUSE POETRY REVIEWS: ANTWONE FISHER’S WHO WILL CRY FOR THE LITTLE BOY



WHO WILL CRY FOR THE LITTLE BOY

AUTHOR:
ANTWONE FISHER
ABOUT THE AUTHOR :
BORN IN CLEVELAND OHIO HE IS A POET, AUTHOR, SCREENWRITER AND FILM PRODUCER. HE IS THE AUTHOR OF THE NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER FINDING FISH. HE ALSO TURNED THAT BOOK INTO A SCREENPLAY WHICH BECAME THE FILM ANTWONE FISHER WHICH IS BASED ON HIS LIFE AND IT WAS DIRECTED BY DENZEL WASHINGTON.

MY REVIEW AND THOUGHTS:

LOOKING BEYOND THIS BOOK I WANT TO SAY FISHER IS A STRONG AND AN AMAZING PERSON. HE SURVIVED PHYSICAL, EMOTIONAL AND SEXUAL ABUSE. I BEING A SURVIVOR OF RAPE AS A CHILD CAN RELATE TO THE HORRORS HE WENT THROUGH AND I THINK THAT ADDS TO THE APPEAL OF HIS CAREER, STEPPING FORWARD OUT OF THE DARKNESS BEING ABLE TO WRITE AND EXPRESS HIMSELF AS AN ARTIST.

THIS BOOK SHOWCASES THE BEAUTY OF HIS POETRY FROM LOVE POEMS TO HORROR POEMS. THE READER CAN UNDERSTAND EACH POEM BECAUSE THEY ARE WRITTEN IN AWAY THAT NOTHING GETS IN THE WAY FOR THE READER. THIS IS A VERY QUICK READ AND A VERY INTERESTING READ IN MY VIEW BECAUSE SOME OF THE POEMS STICK OUT AND WILL REMAIN WITH ME.

THE POEM I WANT TO SHOWCASE IS:

TO LaNETTE

My mind paints a portrait of a beautiful love affair.
And in this beautiful portrait, you and I are there.
On this imaginary canvas, which I will call my mind,
I paint you dozens of tulips, because they're quite
your kind, I must have painted you with me, more
than one hundred times. I love you more than life
itself, on this canvas called my mind.
I paint us living happily, in a world without a sin.
I paint us sharing love, on an eve that has no end.
I also paint you smiling, it's never hard to do, when
you seem to want to smile whenever I'm with you.
I've painted one thousand wishes, and close to
one million dreams; with the magic thoughts
I use dreams come true it seems. I paint us riding
horseback through fields of amber leaves. I paint
I love you madly, on weeping willow trees.
I paint a wedding portrait for envious eyes to see,
so they will know as our portrait shows, your love
belongs to me. I paint a happy forever, on this
canvas called my mind, of a giving love affair, which
will outlast the end of time.

I ENJOYED THIS BOOK, DO I THINK IT'S SOMETHING AMAZING THAT WILL STAND OUT THE TEST OF TIME, TIME WILL TELL. I DO FEEL AT LEAST A HAND FULL OF THE POEMS ARE AMAZING AND ARE NOTE WORTHY TO MENTION. SOME OF THE POEMS ARE YOUR BASIC STYLE OF PICKING A PEN UP AND RHYMING LIKE MOST PEOPLE CAN. I DON'T WANT THAT TO SOUND BITTER TOWARD THIS BOOK BECAUSE TO ME THIS IS STILL A GREAT READ TO LISTEN TO FISHERS WORDS FLOW AND TELL A STORY OF LOVE, DARKNESS AND COMEDY. ONE THING I LOVE IS FISHERS WRITTEN WORDS IN THE FOREWORD:

"I have written poetry for years. No one ever told me to do it; I just did, and I find that writing poetry allows me to be whatever I want to be. Even when I had never been in love, I could write about what I hoped it would be once I found a love of my own. If I felt alone in the world, as I often did, I could write about how I had to be there for myself, because at the time the reality was that I was all I had. What poetry gives me is truth. My poems usually not what I hope to convey to others, but rather, they are my way of speaking to myself. The words are my cadence combined with my spirit."

I COULD NOT HAVE SAID THAT ANY BETTER, THAT TO ME SHOULD TELL YOU WHAT AN AMAZING PERSON FISHER IS. HIS POEMS ARE FUN, SAD, ROMANTIC AND IN AN EVERYDAY SENSE PERFECT. I PERSONALLY WILL REMEMBER THIS BOOK.
MY RATING:
3.5 OUT 0F 5

MUSE POETRY REVIEWS: JUNIA LORAIN CASTLE'S INTERNAL POEMS...PATTERNS TO THOUGHT


INTERNAL POEMS ...PATTERNS TO THOUGHT

AUTHOR:

JUNIA LORAIN CASTLE
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

SHE WAS BORN IN 1913 AND HAS A WAY WITH HER POEMS MIXING POLITICS, ART, MUSIC, TEACHING AND SOCIAL LIFE. SHE HAS STATED THAT "I ALWAYS MEANT TO TAKE THE ROAD OF OBSERVING LIFE AS IT WAS GIVEN TO ME AND AS I WANTED TO LIVE IT." SHE ALSO SAID "I HAVE LIVED A HISTORY BOOK IN PERSON."

MY REVIEW AND THOUGHTS:

I REALLY ENJOYED THIS BOOK OF POETRY IT'S MIXED WITH MANY TYPES OF POEMS. FROM EVERYDAY LIFE, TO ROMANCE AND TO POLITICAL AND TO NON-SENSE TYPE POETRY. IT'S A MIXED BAG OF WORDS THROUGHOUT THAT TAKES THE READER ON A JOURNEY. THIS BOOK WAS A VERY QUICK READ. SOME OF THE POETRY STANDS OUT MORE THAN OTHERS. SOME ARE GREAT AND WILL STICK WITH YOU AND SOME ARE JUST A GOOD READ. I FOUND MY SELF ENJOYING THE REALITY BASED SENSE TO THE POETRY.

EACH OF THE POEMS I COULD RELATE IN A SENSE. THE READER IS PLACED THERE IN WHAT SHE WAS TRYING TO SAY. THESE TYPE OF POEMS TOUCH ON THE BASICS OF LIFE AND MIXES THE READER DOWN THE PATH THAT JUNIA WANTED TO TAKE YOU. YOU COULD FEEL THE WORDS COME TO LIFE AND MAKE PERFECT SENSE WHAT SHE WAS SAYING. NOT ONE TIME DID I PAUSE TO TRY AND FIGURE OUT WHAT THE POEM MEANT BECAUSE EVERYTHING THAT NEEDED TO BE SAID WAS SAID AND THAT TO ME MAKES A GOOD READ.

THERE ARE MANY POEMS I LIKED IN THIS BOOK BUT ONE THAT STOOD OUT WAS ON PAGE 40 TITLED:

GHOSTLY LOVER

Often I repeat that beloved name
which sets my passion a
flameTen thousand times a day
it strikes my mind.
In vain turns and turns

my heart ever inclined.
Through all my lonely be
labored day,
his image bears my soul ever away.
Always I have thought some far distant day

would reverse my restless mind another way.
Scene to scene in memory have I tossed,
That somehow from me,
should he be lost.
When sleep tries and closes my searching eyes,

and hope again and again ever denies,
I wake and find in melancholy surprise,
it was but a passing dreaded denial.
Every moon in darkness deserted the sky,

earth, air became deadly impure,
every star disappeared and was forever obscured.
His name, his image, his voice, half divine,
shall live forever within this breast of mine.
May God take my love with my last breath,

and release me free for eternity in death.
My life is only a distorted dream,
living without this lover,
never existed,
only gleamed.

I DO FEEL THIS IS A GREAT SIMPLE READ MIXED WITH SOME IN YOUR FACE BLUNT POETRY AND ALSO SIMPLE POETRY THAT IS FOR EVERYONE.

MY RATING:
3 OUT OF 5

MUSE POETRY REVIEWS: PEGASUS BUCHANAN’S CHESTNUT STREET UPDATE


CHESTNUT STREET
1956

AUTHOR:

PEGASUS BUCHANAN

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

SHE GREW UP IN EAST LANSING MICHIGAN AND SHE SIGNED HER NAME AS PEGGY PERRY. SHE ATTENDED MICHIGAN STATE COLLEGE AND WORKED IN THE ART DEPARTMENT AS A MODEL. SHE MIXED HER POETRY INTO HER PHOTOGRAPHIC MODELING. SHE STATED THAT CHESTNUT STREET IS EVERYWHERE, "EVERY CITY HAS A CHESTNUT STREET." AN INTERESTING THING TO NOTE IS WAS ALWAYS WITH HER, AT AGE SEVEN SHE WROTE THE:

"TALE OF A RABIT"
Little bunnys dont, i think,
Like to have there noses pink.
That is why youle allways finde them
Wareing pouder puffs behinde them.

THE WORLD AT THAT TIME PRE 1956 BEFORE THE PUBLISHING OF THIS BOOK DID NOT ACKNOWLEDGE HER EFFORT AS A POETRY WRITER. SHE MOVED FORWARD NO MATTER WHAT AND HER FAMILY SUPPORTED HER. SHE WOULD SOON BE RECOGNIZED AS A GRADE SCHOOL'S POET LAUREATE AND ALSO THIS LED TO HER POETRY BEGIN PUBLISHED IN NEWSPAPERS AND PERIODICALS, AND THEN SHE MOVED UP THE CHAIN IN BIGGER MAGAZINES THAT BROUGHT NATIONWIDE ATTENTION TO HER GENIUS WAYS.

PRAISE:

"This is an exceedingly human collection of poems, understanding of the pleasures and pains of people. Chestnut Street is neither Easy Street nor Skid Row, it is Our Street, the home address of most of us. The poems capture the common emotions in such relationships as that of husband to wife, mother to child, boy to dog, through the cycle of seasons making up a year. Avoiding the twin errors of obscurity and sentimentality, the poet is pleasantly unpretentious, and capable of introducing a touch of humor when it is needed. The point of view is that of a woman, but a woman who, being also a poet, can give expression to the little satisfactions that add up to the good life." --Richard Armour (1906;1988) was an American poet and author who wrote over sixty five books.

"Pegasus Buchanan evidences in her work unusual humanity participation, compassion for the weak, and a realistic empathy for the strong." -- Jack Woodford (1894–1971) was a successful pulp novelist and non-fiction author of the 1930s and 1940s.

MY REVIEW AND THOUGHTS:

THIS IS A WONDERFUL QUICK READ. THIS BOOK HAS WHAT GREAT VIVID IMAGE POETRY IS ABOUT. THIS HAS SIMPLE POETRY AND I MEAN THAT IN A GOOD WAY. THIS BOOK CAN BE FOR EVERYBODY. IT'S A BOOK THAT GRABS THE READER BECAUSE YOU CAN UNDERSTAND IT WITHOUT HAVING TO ROCK YOUR BRAIN ON WHAT SHE WAS SAYING. THIS BOOK WAS FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1956 AND I HAVE TO SAY I WAS VERY AMAZED WITH IT.

IT FELT GREAT, IT WAS POETRY I COULD RELATE TO AND KNOW AS A PERSONAL BASIS. ALL THE POEMS HAVE THE THEME CHESTNUT STREET INVOLVED WITH THEM AND ITS INTERESTING TO SEE HOW MANY POEMS SHE GOT OUT OF IT ON THAT SAME SUBJECT. THE POETRY FLOWS IN SIMPLE TONES WITH MASSIVE STORY TELLING IN WORDS THAT BECOME IMAGES. EVEN THOUGH I HAVE NEVER BEEN THERE BEFORE, I FELT APART OF CHESTNUT STREET THAT'S HOW WELL PACED AND WRITTEN THE POETRY IS.

A LOT OF PEOPLE MIGHT NOT GET THIS BOOK BUT I FEEL THE BOOK CAPTURES THE BEAUTY OF WATCHING YOUR SURROUNDINGS AND MAKING THEM INTO GREAT POETRY READS. IT RUNS 96 PAGES AND I READ IT UNDER TWO HOURS TIME THAT'S HOW QUICK IT FLOWED. I EVEN WENT BACK AND READ CERTAIN POEMS TWICE TO GET THE WHOLE EFFECT OF WHAT THE POEM WAS ABOUT. BUCHANAN HAS A UNIQUE STYLE OF WRITING THAT EXPRESSES WHAT SHE WANTS TO SAY.
MY CHOICE OF BEST POEM IN THE BOOK, I REALLY LOVED MOST OF THEM BUT THE ONE THAT I FELL IN LOVE WITH IS CALLED:

AUGUST NIGHT

The night descends at last on Chestnut Street,
But there is no reprisal from the heat,
And steaming houses crouch, devoid of light,
As Betty Landon's phonograph drones on
Above the muffled talk from porch and lawn.
The scent of fresh-cut grass cavorts with sweat,
And now and then a match, a cigarette,
Discloses a position here and there.
Old Mrs. Radcliff's front-porch rocking chair
Creaks slowly back and forth, it's rhythm wrong
To blend with Betty Landon's droning song
That wails forlorn with drunken, savage beat--
Akin to darkness, a akin to heat.
A flash of lightning zig-zags through the sky
And hurls it's thunder earthward. Now a cry
Of victory is echoed down the street
As all rejoice and scramble to their feet.
Deliriously gay, and not quite sane,
They touch and taste the miracle of rain.
The lights flash on in houses. Windows slam.
The rain streaks down as through some skyway dam
Had burst above the trees of Chestnut Street,
Releasing heaven's saltless sea, to beat
With unrelenting fury, endlessly.
But wait ... the sky grows hushed ... and suddenly
The stars are back again. the night lies fair,
And crystal streamlets glimmer everywhere,
Cascading gaily over curb and hill ...
And betty Landon's phonograph is still.

SADLY THIS BOOK HAS NOT BEEN RELEASED IN RECENT BOOK FORM. YOU CAN FIND IT AT USED BOOK STORES AND ALSO THERE ARE SOME LISTINGS ON AMAZON.COM FOR IT, USED THROUGH BUYERS. I THINK THIS IS A GREAT READ AND A BOOK THAT SHOULD BE READ MORE AND LOVED LIKE I DID. IT'S A CLASSIC POETRY WRITTEN BOOK THAT YOU REALLY DON'T SEE ANYMORE AND I REALLY WISH FOR IT TO COME OUT IN A NEW BOOK FORM.

MY RATING:
4 OUT OF 5

MUSE POETRY REVIEWS: CAMPBELL MCGRATH'S PAX ATOMICA POEMS


PAX ATOMICA POEMS

AUTHOR:CAMPBELL MCGRATH
PRAISE:"If you've ever been down the Las Vegas strip of Disney World's Main Street USA, you may have noticed, mingled in your predictable disgust, a strong and surprising current of joy, even awe. That's McGrath's territory, right there, the place where your frustration with American culture has gone so far that it meets your sheer love of it coming from the opposite direction." --Joel Brouwer, Parnassus
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

HE HAS PUBLISHED FIVE OTHER BOOKS: CAPITALISM, AMERICAN NOISE, SPRING COMES TO CHICAGO, ROAD ATLAS AND FLORIDA POEMS.


HIS AWARDS INCLUDE THE KINGSLEY TUFTS PRIZE AND FELLOWSHIPS FROM THE GUGGENHEIM AND MACARTHUR FOUNDATIONS. HE TEACHES IN THE CREATIVE WRITING PROGRAM AT FLORIDA INTERNATIONAL UNIVERSITY IN MIAMI.


MY REVIEW AND THOUGHTS:


I WANTED TO LIKE THIS BOOK SO MUCH. WHEN I STARTED READING IT, IT FELT SO FRESH AND NEW THAT IT SPARKED MY ATTENTION AND THEN AS I MOVED ON FROM ONE POEM TO THE OTHER I FELT LIKE I WAS CONFUSED AND ALSO LET DOWN. WHEN I READ POETRY I WANT TO LOOK AT THE WHOLE PICTURE OF IT. NOT JUST THE NOW BUT ALSO THE FUTURE. TO ME POETRY IS APART OF LIFE AND IT'S RICH AND IT MEANS SOMETHING AND TO ME ITS A PERSONAL PART OF WRITING HISTORY. I THINK THE WORST THING IN THE WORLD IS LOST WORDS. WHAT I LOOK AT IS, IS THIS POETRY GOING TO TRANSCEND TIME OR EVEN THE NOW. WHAT I MEAN BY THAT IS 30 TO 50 YEARS DOWN THE ROAD WILL PEOPLE BE READING THIS LIKE THEY READ FROST OF WHITMAN OR WILL IT END UP LOST FOREVER WHICH TO ME IS SO SAD THAT IT HURTS MY HEART. ALSO IS THIS POETRY BOOK ABLE TO BE HELD NOW AND READ BY PEOPLE.


THIS BOOK IS ON THAT LINE THAT I FEEL IT MIGHT NOT TRANSCEND TIME OR EVEN IN TODAY'S CULTURE. WHEN YOU READ AN OLDER POETRY BOOK ONE HAS TO SET THERE MIND INTO THAT TIME PERIOD BECAUSE HALF OF THE WORDS OR SUBJECT THEY USE PEOPLE DON'T KNOW OR USE ANYMORE AND I WOULD EXPECT TO HAVE TO ROCK MY BRAIN WITH THOSE POEMS BECAUSE THERE OLDER. WITH THIS BOOK I REALLY FOUND MYSELF HAVING TO FLIP THROUGH A DICTIONARY AND ALSO LOOK UP SOME SUBJECTS ONLINE TO UNDERSTAND WHAT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT. I THINK THAT IS ONE BAD IDEA THAT A LOT OF WRITERS DON'T TAKE INTO THERE MIND SET THAT NOT ALL PEOPLE ARE GOING TO UNDERSTAND PERSONAL SUBJECTS OF WHAT YOUR DESCRIBING. SOME WILL SAY THAT'S READING THIS WELL THAT IS WHAT THEY WANTED TO TALK ABOUT AND THEY DON'T CARE ABOUT THE READER, WELL THEN YOU SHOULD NOT BE WRITING A BOOK IF YOU DON'T WANT READERS, THAT IS WHAT WRITING IS ABOUT TO EXPRESS YOURSELF FOR OTHERS. IT'S WRITTEN WORD TO BE READ. THIS BOOK MADE ME HAVE A HEADACHE TO BE HONEST I DID NOT UNDERSTAND HALF OF IT AND SOME READERS MIGHT MAYBE IT'S JUST ME, AND THAT'S WONDERFUL IF YOU DO LIKE IT BUT FOR ME THE GREATEST POETRY BOOKS ARE BOOKS ALL CAN READ AND FROM START TO FINISH, THEY MIGHT NOT HAVE TO LIKE IT BUT AT LEAST THEY CAN READ IT.


LET ME EXPRESS WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT. HE USES WORDS LIKE:


ZEUGMA, XEROPHAGY WHICH AFTER LOOKING UP MEANS DRY EATING, XOANON, ABECEDARIAN, TRAVERTINE, CHALCEDONY, KLIEG, I DON'T CLAIM TO BE SOME GENIUS BUT I DO KNOW HOW TO READ AND WRITE AND LOVE BOOKS, THAT IS WHAT I DO THE MOST IS READ AND WRITE AND SO I JUST FELT LIKE THE WRITER HERE WAS LOOKING THROUGH A DICTIONARY FOR WORDS AND NOT THINKING IF ANYBODY ELSE WAS GOING TO UNDERSTAND IT.


THERE IS PART IN THE POEM JACK GILBERT WHICH IS:


Take a chisel to the mountainside - basalt, gabbro, porphyry


I AM LIKE WHAT. AFTER LOOKING IT UP I UNDERSTOOD IT BECAUSE THEY ARE ROCKS. I FELT HE WROTE THIS BOOK FOR PEOPLE WHO SPEND THERE TIME IN COLLEGE OR SEEK OUT WORDS THAT NO ONE IN EVERYDAY LIFE USES. I DON'T WANT TO SOUND SO MEAN BUT THIS BOOK IS GREAT AT ONE POINT WITH THE SIMPLE TYPE POEMS HE HAS AND THEN THEY ARE PUSHED INTO SOME DEEP WORD DICTIONARY INVESTMENT.


ONE THING I FIND WITH HIS WRITING IS HIS POEMS SEEM TO NOT END IN CERTAIN ONES. I DON'T KNOW IF THAT WAS MEANT TO BE OR IF IT WAS BY ACCIDENT BUT WHATEVER THE CASE I FELT VERY CONFUSED WITH THIS BOOK. HE IS A MASTER AT WORDS I REALLY ENJOYED THAT ASPECT BUT IN THE END WORDS HAVE TO FLOW OR AT LEAST MEAN SOMETHING TO THE READER TO UNDERSTAND. I HONESTLY THOUGHT AT ONE TIME I WAS READING A DIRECTIONS BOOK OR A TEXT BOOK.

THE POEM FROM THE BOOK I ENJOYED WAS ON PAGE 1-3 OR AT LEAST THE POEM I FELT MADE A MARK IN POETRY HISTORY. IT'S RICH WITH IMAGES AND HAS A BEAUTIFUL TALE THAT WORKS SO WELL FOR THE READER AND JUST GRABS THE MIND AND PLACES YOU THERE. I REALLY LOVED THIS POEM.



Girl with Blue Plastic Radio



The first song I ever heard was "The Ballad of Bonnie and Clyde."
There was a girl at the playground with a portable radio,
lying in the grass near the swing set,
beyond the sun-lustred aluminum slide,
kicking her bare feet in the air,
her painted toenails—toes
the color of blueberries, rug burns, yellow pencils, Grecian urns.
This would be when—1966? No,
later, '67 or '68. And no,
it was not the very first song I ever heard,
but the first that invaded my consciousness in that elastically joyous
way music does, the first whose lyrics I tried to learn,
my first communication from the gigawatt voice
of the culture—popular culture,
mass culture, our culture—
kaboom!—raw voltage embraced for the sheer thrill of getting juiced.
Who wrote that song? When was it recorded, and by whom?
Melody lost in the database of the decades
but still playing somewhere in the mainframe cerebellums
of its dandelion-chained,
banana-bike-riding,
Kool-Aid-addled listeners,
still echoing within the flesh and blood mausoleums
of us, me, we, them, the self-same blades
of wind-sown crabgrass spoken of and to by Whitman,
and who could believe it would still matter
decades or centuries later, in a new millennium,
matter what we listened to,
what we ate and watched, matter
that it was "rock 'n roll," for so we knew to call it,
matter that there were hit songs, girls, TVs, fallout shelters.
Who was she, her with the embroidered blue jeans and bare feet,
toenails gilded with cryptic bursts of color?
She is archetypal, pure form, but no less believable for that.
Her chords still resonate, her artifacts have endured
so little changed as to need no archeological translation.
She was older than me, worldly and self-assured.
She was, already, a figure of erotic fascination.
She knew the words and sang the choruses
and I ran over from the sandbox to listen
to a world she cradled in one hand, transistorized oracle,
blue plastic embodiment of our neo-Space Age ethos.
The hulls of our Apollonian rocket ships were as yet unbarnacled
and we still found box turtles in the tall weeds and mossy grass
by the little creek not yet become what it was all becoming
in the wake of yellow earth-movers, that is:
suburbia. Alive, vibrant, unself-consciously evolving,
something new beneath the nuclear sun,
something new in the acorn-scented dark.
Lived there until I was seven in a cinder block garden
apartment. My prefab haven, my little duplex ark.
And the name of our subdivision was
Americana Park.



SO WITH ALL THE NEGATIVE AND SOME POSITIVE I HAVE SAID, I WILL LEAVE THIS UP TO THE READER TO SEE IF THEY LIKE IT. I REALLY DID NOT OR LEAST DID NOT LIKE TO HAVE TO PAUSE AND PICK A DICTIONARY UP TO UNDERSTAND WHAT WAS BEING SAID.

MY RATING:
2 OUT OF 5

MUSE POETRY REVIEWS JOHN KOETHE’S SALLY’S HAIR: POEMS


SALLY'S HAIR: POEMS

AUTHOR:

JOHN KOETHE

PRAISE:

"SALLY'S HAIR IS AN ASTONISHING BOOK IN ITS WISDOM, ITS VARIETY, AND ITS GRACE... KOETHE'S BEST SO FAR." -- HARVARD REVIEW

"POWERFUL AND INTIMATE." -- MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL

"(KOETHE) CONTINUES HIS REIGN AS ONE OF AMERICA'S MOST CONTEMPLATIVE POETS WITH POEMS ... THAT SHINE WITH SIMPLE BUT MELODIC LANGUAGE AND IMAGERY." -- BOOKLIST

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


JOHN KOETHE IS A DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR OF PHILOSOPHY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN - MILWAUKEE AND THE FIRST POET LAUREATE OF MILWAUKEE, WHERE HE LIVES. HIS COLLECTION NORTH POINT NORTH WAS A FINALIST FOR THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE, AND HIS COLLECTION FALLING WATER WON THE KINGSLEY TUFTS AWARD. IN 2005 HE WAS A FELLOW OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMY IN BERLIN.

MY REVIEW AND THOUGHTS:

FIRST I WOULD LIKE TO SAY THIS BOOK IS FILLED WITH AMAZING DESCRIPTIVE WORDS THAT CAPTURES THE BEAUTY OF WHAT POETRY IS ABOUT. THE SIMPLE YET DEEP FEELINGS THE READER GETS IS AMAZING. I FELT WHILE READING THIS I COULD PLACE MYSELF THERE WITH EACH IMAGE THAT MR. KOETHE WROTE ABOUT OR EACH STORY THAT HE WAS PLACING IN THE POETRY AT HAND.

HE HAS A VERY RICH WAY WITH WORDS THAT GRABS THE READER AND DOES NOT LET THEM GO BECAUSE EACH WRITTEN POEM TELLS A STORY THAT IS THOUGHT PROVOKING AND VERY DEEP AT THE SAME TIME. THIS BOOK CONTAINS WONDERFUL POETRY THAT I FEEL IS SOME OF THE BEST AROUND TODAY. IT CONTAINS A PIECE OF MR. KOETHE AND ALSO TAKES A PIECE OF THE READER AND BOTH ARE MIXED SO THAT THE READER CAN UNDERSTAND AND SEE WHERE MR. KOETHE WAS GOING WITH EACH POEM.

I FELT THE PEN OR PENCIL WHAT EVER HE WROTE WITH IN EACH STROKE OF WRITTEN WORD. I FELT IT FLOW IN MY MIND AS I GRACED EACH WORD AND READ AND WAS CAPTURED IN THE BEAUTY AND AMAZING WONDER OF EACH OF HIS WORDS. I FEEL THIS IS A MUST READ FOR ANY POETRY BUFF OR LOVER OF AMAZING WORDS.

MY CHOICE OF FAVORITE POEM FROM THE BOOK EVEN THOUGH EACH ONE OF THEM IS RICH IN TELLING THE POINT AND STORY, I CHOOSE ONE THAT MOST PEOPLE WOULD PASS ON BUT I FELT IT CONTAINED EVERYTHING IT NEEDED TO BE SAID AND ALL THE WONDERFUL IMAGES THE READER NEEDED:

ON PAGE 19-20

A TULIP TREE
It's all here, present and unaccounted for,
With nothing to explain besides the
Wonder and the heightened sense of self
Engendered by these natural enormities
Without a voice or anything to say:
A tulip tree, the brute fact of a lake,
The morning light reflected from a placid
Surface hiding an interior unease
Occasioned by their beauty, taking it all in
Without understanding, for it makes no sense.
What distinguishes constructed beauty
From a beauty that's already there?
Kant tried to answer that-a unity
Without a purpose, nature's intricate
Indifference to our needs-
But I've never understood it very well.
Look at the light that fills the leaves,
The flowers on the tulip tree, the lake that
Wears its cloak of a translucent summer blue.
I see them as I read, and yet there's nothing
On the page but signs extracted from a vacuum by an act of will.
The same forms sprung from nature and imposed;
The same shapes brought to life by light and air
Created by some words I chose here in the darkness of my
room-
Why should the myth of naturalness hold sway, the cult of
Authenticity prevail when accident and artifice
Can both be equally untrue to what we feel and mean?
Life has no form, not while it passes, and what settles into
Place in retrospect is just a story left around from childhood.
It's all there is, and incomplete. But in that lack
I find a thing I've looked for all my ife:
A complement to life, a monument to unreality
That makes a world of difference. Beside each day
There lies another day, responding to the will
Of whoever creates it. Call it a place of freedom,
But its beauty is the beauty of the question
Of different life, indistinguishable from this one
And transforming it, that it might
Answer in its way, and be understood.

DO YOURSELF A HUGE JUSTICE AND PICK THIS BOOK UP AND READ IT, I HAVE ALREADY READ IT TWICE BECAUSE I FELT IT NEEDED A SECOND SCAN BEFORE THIS REVIEW. I KNOW I WILL GO BACK TO THIS BOOK MANY TIMES TO COME BECAUSE I FELL IN LOVE WITH WHAT POETRY IS ABOUT AND MR. KOETHE'S WORDS SHOW THAT. THIS IS A BOOK THAT CAUSED ME TO SMILE AND FEEL THAT WARMTH OF TRUE POETRY AT HAND. THIS IS WHAT GREAT WORDS AND FEELINGS INSIDE A POEM IS SUPPOSE TO EXPRESS. I FELT THIS BOOK SAID EVERYTHING IT NEEDED TO SAY, AND I AS THE READER FELT WHOLE AND COMPLETE WHEN I FINISHED IT.
THIS BOOK ALSO CONTAINS THE POEM SALLY'S HAIR HINTS THE TITLE IT WAS SELECTED BY BILLY COLLINS FOR THE BEST AMERICAN POETRY 2006.

MY RATING:
4 OUT OF 5

MUSE POETRY REVIEWS: TUPAC SHAKUR'S THE ROSE THAT GREW FROM CONCRETE


THE ROSE THAT GREW FROM CONCRETE
AUTHOR:

TUPAC SHAKUR

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:


TUPUC SHAKUR (2PAC) REMAINS THE TOP-SELLING RAP ARTIST OF ALL TIME AND ITS WORLD'S MOST INFLUENTIAL AND INSTANTLY RECOGNIZABLE FIGURE. ALSO A TRAINED AND GIFTED ACTOR, TUPAC APPEARED IN SEVEN MAJOR MOTION PICTURES. HE WAS MURDERED AT THE AGE OF TWENTY-FIVE.

MY REVIEWAND THOUGHTS:

THIS BOOK CAN BE LOOKED AT IN TWO DIFFERENT WAYS. ONE BEING A BOOK THAT IS APART OF MUSIC HISTORY AND THE OTHER A BOOK OF POETRY. I THINK I WOULD CLASSIFY IT AS A BOOK OF MUSIC HISTORY RATHER THEN A POWERFUL LITERATURE BOOK. IT DOES CONTAIN SOME WONDERFUL THOUGHT PORVOKING SIMPLE POEMS THAT GRAB THE READER BUT I FEEL MOST OF THE POETRY IS DONE IN THAT SIMPLE TONE WHERE EVERYBODY CAN BE A POET.

I DON'T WANT THAT TO SOUND MEAN BECAUSE MR. SHAKUR IS A VERY TALENTED ARTIST AT HIS GAME, HE IS A WONDERFUL RAPPER AND AN AMAZING SKILL AT WORDS. HIS LYRICAL POETRY IS SOME OF THE BEST AROUND IN THE MUSIC WORLD. THIS BOOK WAS A COLLECTION FOUND OF POEMS AFTER HIS DEATH AND WAS PUT TOGETHER TO MAKE A BOOK. IT FOCUSES UPON MR. SHAKUR'S EMOTIONS AND INNER STRUGGLES WITH DEMONS AND THE LIFE HE GREW UP WITH. THESE POEMS WHERE WRITTEN BEFORE HE BECAME A HUGE STAR AND NOW BECAUSE OF HIS DEATH A MUSIC ICON.

IT IS A SHAME WHEN IT TAKES SOMEONES DEATH BEFORE PEOPLE NOTICH THE POWER AN ARTIST HAD. THE SAME WITH A PAINTER OR A POET OR IN MOST REGARDS ANY ARTIST TENDS TO FINALLY BE GIVEN THE EXPOSURE THEY DESERVED IN LIFE YET NOW THEY ARE DEAD AND ARE MORE FAMOUS THEN WHEN THEY WHERE ALIVE WHICH TO ME MAKES NO SENSE, WE SHOULD HONOR AND ENJOY THEM BEFORE THEY ARE DEAD.

I WOULD FOR THE MUSIC FAN OR A TUPAC FAN RECOMMEND THIS BOOK BUT FOR A DIEHARD POETRY LOVER OR ONE WHO SEEKS OUT GREAT WRITTEN WORDS I WOULD PASS ON THIS. I MYSELF ENJOYED IT BECAUSE I ALWAYS LIKE TO READ OTHERS THOUGHTS AND DREAMS AND NIGHTMARES AND THAT IS WHAT THIS BOOK DOES, YOU GET TO SEE THE INNER STRUGGLE. THE BOOK IS SPLIT UP IN THEMES. THE FIRST TITLE THE ROSE THAT GREW FROM CONCRETE WHICH IS ABOUT DEEP POEMS ABOUT FEELINGS AND EMOTIONS AND STRUGGLES WHICH I HAVE TO SAY IS THE BEST PART OF THE BOOK IT HAS 16 POEMS. THE NEXT SECTION IS CALLED NOTHING CAN COME BETWEEN US WHICH I FEEL IS THE WEAKEST PART OF THE BOOK AND IT CONTAINS WHAT I CONSIDER POETRY THAT ANYONE COULD WRITE. I DON'T WANT THAT TO SOUND MEAN BUT IT'S POETRY THAT IS BASIC ROSES ARE RED TYPE OF SETTING OR SIMPLE LOVE POEMS TO MANY DIFFERENT WOMEN IT HAS 33 POEMS IN THIS SECTION. THE NEXT SECTION IS A FREEDOM VIEWPOINT WHICH HAS SOME STRONG POINTS TO IT THAT WORKS, IT CONTAINS 14 POEMS. THE NEXT AND LAST IS LIBERTY NEEDS GLASSES WHICH IS A SECTION OF POLITICAL TYPE OF POEMS ABOUT THE STRUGGLE OF LIFE BEING BLACK. IT CONTAINS 9 POEMS.

THE ONE POEM I REALLY CHOOSE AS A KNOCK OUT POEM WOULD BE THE POEM TITLED THE ROSE THAT GREW FROM CONCRETE ALSO THE TITLE OF THE BOOK. THIS POEM CAPTURES THE DEEP DARK REALITY ON MR. SHAKUR'S MIND SET AND ALSO CAPTURES THE BEAUTY OF WHAT POETRY IS ABOUT IN WORDS.

PAGES 2-3

Did u hear about the rose that grew from a crack
in the concrete
Proving nature's laws wrong it learned 2 walk
without having feet
Funny it seems but by keeping its dreams
it learned 2 breathe fresh air
Long live the rose that grew from concrete
when no one else even cared!

SO WITH ALL THE POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE I HAVE SAID ABOUT THIS BOOK, I WOULD HAVE TO SAY ONE NEEDS TO CHOOSE FOR THEMSELVES IF THEY THINK THIS BOOK OF POETRY IS A MASTERPIECE OR A SIMPLE READ LIKE I DID. THE ONE AMAZING COOL THING ABOUT THIS BOOK IS THEY PHOTO COPIED TUPACS REAL WRITING OF THE POEMS AND PLACED IT ON THE OPISITE PAGE OF THE TYPED ONE WHICH GIVES IT A REALITY BASED AND ALSO A VERY HAUNTED UNDERSTANDING. I WOULD SAY BUY HIS CD'S IF YOU WANT AMAZING MIX OF WORDS AND A TRUE SENSE OF HIS POET LYRICAL REALITY BECAUSE HIS CD'S CONTAIN THE BEAUTY AND AMAZING STRUGGLE OF WHO HE WAS.

MY RATING:
2.5 OUT OF 5

POET SPOTLIGHT SLYVIA PLATH


I AM SO HAPPY TO BE WRITING ABOUT ONE OF MY FAVORITE POETS AND AUTHORS SYLVIA PLATH. I FIRST WOULD LIKE TO SAY, HER BEAUTY AND WONDER MIXED WITH HER WORDS GAVE AN IMPACT IN POETRY HISTORY THAT STILLS HOLDS TODAY AS BEING ONE OF THE GREATEST POETIC ICONS OF ALL TIME. HER GRACE WITH WORDS MADE THE READER HUNGRY FOR MORE. HER WORDS BROUGHT STORIES, IMAGES AND MOST OF ALL PASSION TO THE READER THAT WAS READING.
FROM THE SMALLEST POEM TO THE GREATEST POEM, EACH ONE HAD A SOMEWHAT CLASS TO IT THAT BROUGHT A VISION OF WHAT A WORD HEAVEN WOULD BE.
TO SEE THE WONDERFUL AMAZING TALENT OF PLATH IS TO LOOK BEYOND THE SADNESS AND THE TORMENT OF HER LIFE AND READ HER AMAZING POETRY BOOKS. THE BOOK ARIEL WHICH IS HER SECOND POETRY BOOK IS TO ME HER DEFINING MASTERPIECE. THE POEMS INSIDE THIS BOOK BRING THE PASSION, POWER AND HEART ACHE OF STRUGGLE AND SADNESS AND THE STRENGTH TO SURVIVE TO DETAIL FOR THE READER. THE POEMS LIKE DADDY AND LADY LAZARUS AND TULIPS AND LESBOS ARE ALL AMAZING PIECES OF POETRY HISTORY. INTERESTING TO NOTE IS PLATH GOT A PULITZER PRIZE IN 1982 FOR THE COLLECTED POEMS. SHE WAS THE FIRST DEAD POET TO GET THIS HONOR.
YES MRS. PLATH WAS A POET BUT SHE ALSO WAS A WRITER OF A SEMI-AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL BOOK THE BELL JAR WHICH BASICALLY WAS ABOUT HER LIFE YET SHE DID NOT COME OUT AND SAY THAT TILL MUCH LATER, THE BOOK WAS WRITTEN UNDER A PSEUDONYM VICTORIA LUCAS.
SHE WAS BORN ON OCT. 27, 1932 IN JAMAICA PLAIN MASSACHUSETTS. TO SHOW HER POETRY BLOOD HER FIRST POEM WAS PUBLISHED WHEN SHE WAS AT THE YOUNG AGE OF 8 YEARS OLD. PLATH THROUGHOUT HER LIFE BECAME A SUICIDE JUNKIE IF YOU WISH TO CALL IT THAT. HER DEPRESSION AND OFTEN ODD BEHAVIOR LED HER TO TRY AND COMMIT SUICIDE MANY TIMES. IN HER JUNIOR YEAR SHE TRIED TO KILL HERSELF WITH AN OVERDOSE OF SLEEPING PILLS.
AFTER THIS ORDEAL SHE WAS PLACED IN A INSTITUTION AND WAS GIVEN ELECTRO SHOCK THERAPY. SHE SEEMED TO GET BETTER AND IN 1955 SHE GRADUATED WITH HONORS. THROUGHOUT HER COLLEGE SHE PUBLISHED MANY POEMS. ON JUNE 16 1956 SHE MARRIED THE ENGLISH POET TED HUGHES. SHE PUBLISHED HER FIRST COLLECTION OF POETRY THE COLOSSUS AFTER MOVING TO THE UNITED KINGDOM. SHE WOULD HAVE TWO CHILDREN WITH HUGHES AND ALSO SUFFERED ONE MISCARRIAGE WHICH IS APART OF HER LIFE THAT SHE REFLECTS UPON IN SOME OF HER POETRY. SADLY PLATH'S MARRIAGE TO HUGHES WAS MIXED WITH HIS AFFAIR TO ASSIA WEVILL AND THEY WENT THERE DIFFERENT WAYS IN 1962. THIS WOULD BRING ON HER DEEP DEPRESSION EVEN MORE. SADLY ON FEB. 11, 1963 SHE KILLED HERSELF BY STICKING HER HEAD INTO THE OVEN WHILE THE GAS WAS ON. THE STORY BEHIND HER DEATH HAS BECOME SOMEWHAT OF A MYSTERY AND ALSO AN UNSOLVED MYSTERY STORY. YOU SEE ASSIA WEVILL THE WOMAN THAT HUGHES CHEATED ON PLATH WITH ALSO WOULD KILL HERSELF ALMOST IN THE SAME MANNER. ON MARCH 23, 1969 SHE DRAGGED A MATTRESS INTO THE KITCHEN, LAID HER 4 YEAR OLD DAUGHTER ON THE MATTRESS, TURNED THE GAS ON, SHE CRUSHED UP SLEEPING PILLS AND MIXED IT IN WITH WHISKEY DRINKING IT AND FELL A SLEEP WITH HER DAUGHTER SHURA, BOTH DIED. IT WAS NEVER MENTIONED IN FACT IF SHURA WAS HUGHES DAUGHTER YET HE BELIEVED SHE WAS. HUGHES USED WOMEN VERY EASY LIKE A THROWN AWAY NAPKIN. HE WOULD USE HIS INFIDELITY LIKE IT WAS DOCTOR PRESCRIBED MEDICINE.

POEM SPOTLIGHT:

TULIPS BY SYLVIA PLATH
The tulips are too excitable, it is winter here.
Look how white everything is, how quiet, how snowed-in
I am learning peacefulness, lying by myself quietly
As the light lies on these white walls, this bed, these hands.
I am nobody; I have nothing to do with explosions.
I have given my name and my day-clothes up to the nurses
And my history to the anaesthetist and my body to surgeons.
They have propped my head between the pillow and the sheet-cuff
Like an eye between two white lids that will not shut.
Stupid pupil, it has to take everything in.
The nurses pass and pass, they are no trouble,
They pass the way gulls pass inland in their white caps,
Doing things with their hands, one just the same as another,
So it is impossible to tell how many there are.
My body is a pebble to them, they tend it as water
Tends to the pebbles it must run over, smoothing them gently.
They bring me numbness in their bright needles, they bring me sleep.
Now I have lost myself I am sick of baggage ----
My patent leather overnight case like a black pillbox,
My husband and child smiling out of the family photo;
Their smiles catch onto my skin, little smiling hooks.
I have let things slip, a thirty-year-old cargo boat
Stubbornly hanging on to my name and address.
They have swabbed me clear of my loving associations.
Scared and bare on the green plastic-pillowed trolley
I watched my teaset, my bureaus of linen, my books
Sink out of sight, and the water went over my head.
I am a nun now, I have never been so pure.
I didn't want any flowers, I only wanted
To lie with my hands turned up and be utterly empty.
How free it is, you have no idea how free ----
The peacefulness is so big it dazes you,
And it asks nothing, a name tag, a few trinkets.
It is what the dead close on, finally; I imagine them
Shutting their mouths on it, like a Communion tablet.
The tulips are too red in the first place, they hurt me.
Even through the gift paper I could hear them breathe
Lightly, through their white swaddlings, like an awful baby.
Their redness talks to my wound, it corresponds.
They are subtle: they seem to float, though they weigh me down,
Upsetting me with their sudden tongues and their colour,
A dozen red lead sinkers round my neck.
Nobody watched me before, now I am watched.
The tulips turn to me, and the window behind me
Where once a day the light slowly widens and slowly thins,
And I see myself, flat, ridiculous, a cut-paper shadow
Between the eye of the sun and the eyes of the tulips,
And I hve no face, I have wanted to efface myself.
The vivid tulips eat my oxygen.
Before they came the air was calm enough,
Coming and going, breath by breath, without any fuss.
Then the tulips filled it up like a loud noise.
Now the air snags and eddies round them the way a river
Snags and eddies round a sunken rust-red engine.
They concentrate my attention, that was happy
Playing and resting without committing itself.
The walls, also, seem to be warming themselves.
The tulips should be behind bars like dangerous animals;
They are opening like the mouth of some great African cat,
And I am aware of my heart: it opens and closes
Its bowl of red blooms out of sheer love of me.
The water I taste is warm and salt, like the sea,
And comes from a country far away as health.

MANY BELIEVE IT WAS THE BRAKE UP OF HUGHES THAT DESTROYED AND DROVE PLATH TO HER FINAL DEATH. HER DEEP DEPRESSION MIXED WITH LOOSING WHO SHE CONSIDERED HER SOUL MATE BROUGHT ON THAT DARKNESS ONCE AGAIN. UPON PLATH'S TOMBSTONE IT HAS TED HUGHES NAME IN BRONZE UPON IT, DUE TO THE FACT THAT MANY OF PLATH'S FANS AND LOVERS OF HER POETRY HAVE OFTEN CHISELED OUT HIS NAME IN THE STONE, SO THE CEMETERY REPLACED IT WITH BRONZE TO STOP THE VANDALISM.

TED HUGHES WOULD GO ON TO PUBLISH HIS WIFE'S JOURNALS. IN THE FORWARD OF THE 1982 HE MENTIONS THE REASON WHY HE DESTROYED THE LAST OF HER JOURNALS BECAUSE HE DID NOT WANT THE CHILDREN TO HAVE TO READ IT. MORE OR LESS IT WAS ABOUT THE WINTER OF 1962 UP UNTIL HER DEATH WHICH WOULD HAVE CONTAINED A LOT OF THE TRUTH OF THE RELATIONSHIP AND ALSO UP UNTIL HER DEATH. MANY FANS OF PLATH BELIEVE TED HUGHES WAS A WIFE ABUSER WHICH THE JOURNAL MIGHT HAVE DETAILED.

THE CONTROVERSY AFTER HER DEATH WAS THAT TED HUGHES CONTROLLED HER ESTATE AND POETRY EVEN THOUGH IT WAS SAID SHE WAS GOING THROUGH WITH DIVORCE. THE BOOK ARIEL WAS PUBLISHED IN 1965 AFTER HER DEATH, THE POEMS WHERE SAID TO BE RE-ARRANGED IN A DIFFERENT MANNER THEN HOW SHE HAD THEM IT IS ALSO SAID POEMS WHERE TAKEN OUT. THE MAIN POEMS THAT PLATH WROTE AGAINST HUGHES OR CRITICIZED HUGHES WHERE OFTEN SAID TO BE DESTROYED SUCH AS THE SO CALLED JOURNAL AND ALSO OTHER POETRY SHE HAD WRITTEN. THE MERE FACT OF CENSORSHIP OF HER THOUGHTS MAKES ME SAD AND MOST OF ALL BITTER BECAUSE THAT GOES AGAINST EVERYTHING A POET STANDS FOR. IN WRITTEN WORD, YOU SPEAK THE TRUTH AND PUSH THE TRUTH NO MATTER HOW BAD OR HORRIBLE IT IS, IT STILL IS THE TRUTH, IT STILL IS ART AND APART OF HISTORY.

TO THIS DAY IT CAN BE SAID IT'S A BATTLE BETWEEN POET LOVERS, PLATH'S FOLLOWERS AND HUGHES FOLLOWERS OFTEN ARE BITTER AT EACH OTHER. I FOR ONE LIKE BOTH OF THEM AND TO ME IT'S SAD THAT TWO GREAT POETS ARE TAINTED WITH THE TORMENT AND TURMOIL OF THE HISTORY OF THEM. A LOT OF THE TIME BOTH OF THEM ARE LOOKED AT IN THE MYSTERY AND GOSSIP ANGLE AND THERE NOT LOOKED AT IN THE BEAUTY OF THERE WORDS AND AMAZING SKILL AT POETRY.


SYLVIA 2003

PLOT: THE MOVIE SHOWCASES THE ROMANCE BETWEEN SYLVIA AND TED HUGHES. IT SHOWCASES THERE FIRST MEETING AT CAMBRIDGE AND IN A SAD NOTE BUT A TRUTHFUL NOTE IT LEADS ALL THE WAY TO THE SUICIDE.

RUNTIME: 110 MINS.

RATED: R

STARRING: GWYNETH PALTROW AS SYLVIA PLATH, DANIEL CRAIG AS TED HUGHES, JARED HARRIS AS AL ALVAREZ, AMIRA CASAR AS ASSIA WEVILL.DIRECTOR: CHRISTINE JEFFS

RELEASE DATE: OCT. 17, 2007


MY REVIEW AND THOUGHTS:

FIRST OFF THE BEAUTY OF THE MOVIE IS WHAT SETS THE VIEWER THERE IN THAT TIME PERIOD. THE COSTUMES, CARS, STRUCTURES, ALL ADD THAT CLASSIC FEEL OF LONG AGO. GWYNETH PALTROW AND DANIEL GRAIG HAVE WONDERFUL CHEMISTRY TOGETHER. YOU BELIEVE THE ROLE AS YOU WATCH BOTH OF THEM TOGETHER. I THINK PALTROW BECOMES SYLVIA. SHE GRABS THE PART AND IT'S LIKE THE SOUL OF PLATH COMES FROM THE GRAVE AND ENTERS THE STAR TO GIVE HER THE KNOWLEDGE TO PLAY THE PART PERFECT. THE MOVIE SHOWCASES THE FIRST MEETING AND THE MASSIVE LOVE AFFAIR BETWEEN EACH OTHER. I THINK THE KEY POINT THE MOVIE PLAYS ON IS THE DEPRESSION THAT SYLVIA LIVED WITH. SHE WAS A WOMAN THAT HAD MANY DEMONS BATTLING INSIDE HER.

THE MOVIE IS AMAZINGLY FILMED WITH CINEMATOGRAPHY. IT HAS WONDERFUL BRIGHT COLORS AS THE AUTUMN LEAFS TURN AND THE SKY SEEMS TO BE DARK AND GREY. I THINK THAT IS A POINT THAT NEEDS TO BE PICKED UP ON. AT THE START YOU SEE THE GREAT SMILE ON SYLVIA AND THEN AS THE DEPRESSION COMES BACK THE ATMOSPHERE AND THE MOVIE TURNS TO A DEPRESSION TYPE SETTING. THE SKIES ARE GREY, THE CLOTHES SEEM TO BE DARK, THE BUILDINGS ARE DECAYED.


THE WINTER BLUES SET IN. THE MOVIE IS STYLED THAT WAY IN A SENSE OF AN ARTISTIC APPROACH OR MORE OR LESS LIVING POETRY. THERE IS A WONDERFUL POETIC MOMENT IN THE MOVIE. SYLVIA AND TED AND OTHERS ARE IN A ROOM READING POETRY. THE KEY IS TO SEE HOW FAST THE POETRY CAN BE READ. THE FEELINGS GIVEN TO THE PIECE. THIS MOMENT IS PERFECT FOR A POETRY BUFF IN SEEING THE PASSION AND SOUL GIVEN INTO THE PIECE THAT IS BEING READ. THAT PASSION SHOWN IN THIS PART EVEN THOUGH IT IS A MOVIE IS THE KIND OF INTENSE POETRY I LOVE. THE POETRY WHERE THE BODY WORKS WITH IT. THE ACTIONS AND THE EMBRACE OF EACH WORD IS THE KIND OF POETRY I MISS A LOT. THIS DAY AND AGE A LOT OF POETS TEND TO NOT WRITE FROM THE SOUL AND THAT IS SAD. SO MANY POETS WRITE FROM THE MIND AND TEXT BOOKS OR DICTIONARIES AND NOT THE HEART, THAT'S WHY, TRUE POETS, LOVERS OF WORDS ARE FEW THIS DAY AND AGE. SYLVIA WAS THAT KIND OF POET. SHE SPOKE FROM THE SOUL. SHE BECAME APART OF THE POETRY, SHE BLEED EACH WORD UPON THE PAPER FROM HER HEART AND SO DID MR. HUGHES.


THE MOVIE SHOWS THE STRUGGLE OF SUICIDE ATTEMPTS AND THE STRUGGLE TO BE THE GREAT POET THAT SHE WOULD BECOME. IT SEEMS THAT HER LIFE WAS AT A STAND STILL AFTER HER FATHER DIED. THE BITTERNESS OR THE ANGER OR DEPRESSION GOT HOLD OF HER. I ENJOY HOW THE MOVIE SHOWCASES THE STRUGGLE OF SYLVIA BECOMING HER OWN PERSON WHERE EVERYBODY AROUND HER SEEMED TO NOT PAY HER ATTENTION AS A POET AND SADLY IT WOULD TAKE HER DEATH BEFORE SHE BECAME WHO SHE WAS AN ICONIC POET. I HAVE OFTEN STATED THAT IT'S SAD AN ARTIST HAS TO BE DEAD BEFORE REALLY ANYBODY NOTICES THEM OR GIVES THEM GREAT PRAISE. I WISH WE WOULD STOP THAT THINKING AND ENJOY THE ARTIST WHILE THEY ARE ALIVE WITH US.


I THINK WHY SYLVIA IS SUCH A WONDERFUL PERSON IS THAT SHE STRUGGLED TO BE ABLE TO WRITE HER WORDS ON PAPER. SHE WAS A WIFE, A MOTHER, SOMEONE WHO TOOK CARE OF THE HOUSE HOLD, FROM DINNER, LAUNDRY AND CHILD CARE AND NEVER REALLY SEEMED TO HAVE THE TIME SHE WISHED TO FOR POETRY. SHE SEEMED TO NEVER HAVE THE TIME TO WRITE THE BEAUTY THAT WANTED TO COME OUT. THE MOVIE SHOWCASES THE PARANOIA OR GREAT JEALOUSY GROWING INSIDE SYLVIA AS SHE WOULD WATCH TED FLIRT WITH OTHER WOMAN OR GO TO THE EXTREMES IN TALKING OR HELPING OTHER WOMEN.


THERE IS A SHOT IN THE MOVIE WHERE TED AND SYLVIA HAVE THERE FRIENDS THE ONES RENTING THERE APARTMENT DAVID AND ASSIA FOR THE WEEKEND. ASSIA WOULD BE THE ONE MR. HUGHES HAS AN AFFAIR WITH THAT WOULD DESTROY THE RELATIONSHIP ALTHOUGH THAT STATEMENT IS A LITTLE OVER THE TOP BECAUSE I FEEL IN A PERSONAL VIEW POINT THAT THE RELATIONSHIP WAS DOOMED FROM THE START. THIS MOMENT IS POWERFUL BECAUSE YOU SEE THE SPARK OF JEALOUSY OR KNOWING THE TRUTH OF HER HUSBAND PAYING A LITTLE TO MUCH ATTENTION TO MRS. ASSIA. DAVID ASKS SYLVIA IF SHE HAS FOUND ANYTIME TO WRITE WITH BEING A MOTHER AND ALL. SYLVIA MAKES THE REMARK OH TED DOES THAT'S ALL THAT MATTERS RIGHT, HE IS THE GOOD POET.


ONE THING THE MOVIE SHOWS IS HOW SYLVIA WOULD GET BACK AT TED, BY RIPPING OR BURNING UP HIS WORK. HE WOULD RIP HER HEART OUT BY SLEEPING AROUND AND SO SHE COULD RIP HIS HEART OUT BY RIPPING UP HIS POETRY. THE SOUNDTRACK TO THE MOVIE IS FLAWLESS, AT TIMES THE MUSIC SCORE IS VERY HAUNTING. YOU GET SYLVIA PLATH'S LIFE, THE UPS AND THE DOWNS, THE MOVIE SHOWCASES THE STAR THAT WOULD BE BORN.


THE MOVIE DOES NOT FEATURE EVERYTHING OF SYLVIA'S LIFE THAT WOULD TAKE A TRILOGY OF MOVIES TO SHOWCASE IT. WHAT THIS MOVIE DOES IS CAPTURE THE MOMENTS THAT TELL THE STORY IN COMPLETE DETAIL OF THE DEPRESSION AND THE STRUGGLE TO BE AN AMAZING POET. THIS MOVIE WORKS IN SO MANY WAYS. I LOVED IT.


PRAISE AND AWARDS:

WON THE 2005 AWARD FOR AWARD OF DISTINCTION AT THE AUSTRALIAN CINEMATOGRAPHERS SOCIETY.

THE WONDERFUL THING IS WE HAVE PLATH'S POETRY TO SHOWCASE HER AMAZING TALENT TO THE WRITTEN WORD. THE WORDS THAT SHOWCASED THE BEAUTY OF HER HEART AND SOUL OF WHAT SHE WANTED TO SAY. IT WAS ULTIMATELY HER LIFE STRUGGLES THAT DEVELOPED HER GREATEST POETRY. FROM HER SUICIDAL TENDENCIES TO HER DEEP DARK DEPRESSION, TO BEING A MOTHER, TO HAVING A MISCARRIAGE, TO HER HUSBAND WHO CHEATED ON HER, ALL HER RAGE AND ANGER AND BITTERNESS AND SADNESS WOULD WRAP THEMSELVES INTO HER POETRY.


I THINK THE SADDEST NOTION TO SYLVIA PLATH IS, IS THAT SHE WAS SICK. SHE HAD THE DEPRESSION BAD, AND DEEP AND IT CONTROLLED HER LIFE SADLY. SHE NEEDED PROFESSIONAL HELP WHICH SHE DID SEEK OUT OFTEN BUT NOT OFTEN ENOUGH. I DO BELIEVE THAT IF SHE WOULD HAVE GOTTEN HELP, SHE MIGHT HAVE LIVED A LONG LIFE. SYLVIA PLATH GAVE IT HER ALL. IN GIVING IT ALL, IT WAS LIKE IT NEVER WAS ENOUGH.


I THINK WHAT THE WEIRDEST REALITY TO THE SITUATION IS, IT WAS THE HEARTACHE, THE DEPRESSION, THE AFFAIRS INSIDE THE RELATIONSHIP, THE TORMENT THAT REALLY GAVE SYLVIA HER VOICE. THESE HARD TIMES IN LIFE MADE HER OPEN UP HER BEAUTY OF WORDS AND LET THEM SPREAD, IN COMPLETE POETRY AS TRUE ART. SHE PUT ALL THE DISTURBING REALITIES INTO HER POETRY AND GAVE HER DEPRESSION AND PAIN A VOICE. SHE LET IT FLOW FROM HER SOUL, SHE LET IT FLOW FROM HER HEART WHICH WAS STAINED WITH THE DARKNESS AND THE DEPRESSION OF HER THOUGHTS. HER POETRY WAS OF WHO SHE WAS. IT WAS ALL THAT HEARTACHE FROM HER FATHERS DEATH TO THE REALITY OF TED HUGHES, THAT IS WHAT MADE HER BECOME THE GREAT POET SHE WAS AND STILL IS. IT WAS HER TEARS THAT WAS THE INK TO THE PEN. IT WAS THE TEARS THAT GUIDED HER FINGERS UPON THE TYPEWRITER. HER TEARS BECAME HER POETRY. HER POETRY BECAME HER TEARS.


I THINK SYLVIA PLATH LOVED HUGHES MORE THEN ANYTHING. THE BREAK UP OF HUGHES JUST ADDED TO THE DEEP DEPRESSION THAT HAD ALREADY BECAME A STABLE IN HER LIFE. THE READER READING PLATH'S POEMS COULD FEEL HER, UNDERSTAND HER, YOU BECOME APART OF HER AS YOU SCAN AND READ EACH WORD. HER POETRY IS ALIVE WHEN YOU READ IT. THAT'S WHAT MAKES SYLVIA PLATH'S POETRY STAND OUT. HER LIFE, HER HEART, HER SOUL, HER THOUGHTS ARE ALL CAPTURED IN HER POEMS.


SYLVIA PLATH WAS BEAUTIFUL, A GENIUS, A CREATIVE MIND, A MYSTERY, SHE HELD EVERYTHING THAT A POET COULD THINK OF INSIDE THE GENIUS OF HER MIND. SHE GAVE US MANY POEMS AND HER LEGEND INSIDE THE WORLD OF LITERATURE WILL ALWAYS REMAIN. I THINK THE MOST INTERESTING THING ABOUT TED HUGHES AND SYLVIA PLATH IS THEY BOTH SUFFERED FROM DEMONS, BOTH OF THEM HAD THERE WRONGS AND BOTH OF THEM HAD THERE RIGHTS. JUST LIKE ALL OF US HAVE DEMONS WE FIGHT, SOME DEMONS ARE GREATER AND SOME DEMONS ARE LESSER. I DO BELIEVE TED HUGHES AND SYLVIA PLATH WHERE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER, FOR BOTH OF THEM WHERE DEEP WITH SOME SORT OF MONKEY ON THERE BACKS, NOT THE MONKEY OF DRUGS BUT THE MONKEY OF WANTING LOVE AND SOMETIMES THE ASPECT OF WANTING LOVE CAN BE TWISTED INTO DESIRE AND LUST AND JEALOUSY AND HEARTACHE. I BELIEVE SYLVIA PLATH LOVED TED HUGHES, I BELIEVE TED HUGHES LOVED SYLVIA PLATH EVEN THOUGH BOTH OF THEM WHERE MEANT TO BE TOGETHER, IT'S THAT WHOLE CONCEPT OF ROMEO AND JULIET, THAT THEY COULD NEVER BE TOGETHER BECAUSE THERE WAS ALWAYS SOMETHING IN THE WAY.


ALWAYS SOMETHING PUSHING THEM AWAY FROM EACH OTHER. TO ME THAT IS WHY THE RELATIONSHIP AND THE REALITY OF SYLVIA PLATH AND TED HUGHES IS POETRY. THERE LIFE STORIES, THERE LIFE'S ACTIONS IS WHAT POETRY IS, THE UPS AND THE DOWNS OF POETRY.