Dan Antion

Celebrating Poetry – 2ReviewTues

April is poetry month, and between following poets who have been participating in NaPoWriMo, as well as the poets who show up in my normal blog feed, I’ve read a lot of poetry this month. In addition, I was thrilled to read two books of poetry this month. It’s great timing because I wanted to review two books of poetry for this monthly feature. I say monthly, now that I’ve managed to complete three months in a row. OK, enough about me, let’s get to the books.

Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance – Elizabeth Gauffreau

When I first saw the title of this wonderful book, I was hesitant. Grief is an individual thing. I wasn’t sure it was something I could read about without feeling like I was intruding. I also wasn’t sure if Liz’s grief was compatible with mine. Selfish? Indeed, grief is personal—isn’t it?

Then I realized that Liz had written about memories, feelings, and emotions we all can relate to. Maybe not the exact circumstances, but something similar. Similar enough that in seeing the photos she shared and the words she crafted, I knew. I knew what she felt, and I learned why she felt what she did. It’s beautiful.

The first time I connected with this book was when I read a line in WWII Enlistment, of her father’s joining the service.

“…the jungles of New Guinea
a damn sight better than home”

Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance – Elizabeth G

My father was in New Guinea in WWII, and while it may not have been better than home, it may have been the first time in his life that his future was under control, albeit not his control. Later pictures of a man with a pipe in his mouth reminded me of when my father smoked a pipe. A memory I had forgotten. Her book made me wish I had more photos and made me search my own memories.

The stories she shares in small poems, written in Tanka and freestyle, and the accompanying photographs paint a complete picture of scene and emotion. Liz pulled me into her world, then and now, and I think I understand.

Memories of life’s journeys, silly things. Things that meant more to parents than the children. The perceptions of parents, offset by the memories of the child. Why do we choose to remember what we do? Why do we take solace in certain moments of the past at the time of loss? I don’t know, but Liz’s beautiful, artful compilation of photos and memories is a book that will make you feel better about the profound losses in your life.

You can buy Grief Songs here. You can find Elizabeth at Amazon here. You can read her blog here.

Poetry Treasures 3: Passions – Compiled and Edited by Kaye Lynne Booth and Robbie Cheadle

One of the things I was struggling with as I began thinking about a second book of poetry to pair with the above, was who to feature. I follow a lot of poets. I follow a lot of bloggers who periodically drift into poetry. Fortunately, many of them found their way into this anthology. I found out about this collection early, when Willow Willers sent me an email telling me that she had five poems in it. When I followed the pre-order link she had included, I knew I had my second book of poetry.

I was already familiar with nine of the thirteen poets in this collection. I will add the other four to my regular reading in the very near future. I’ll tell you up front, I can’t choose a favorite. No favorite poem, no favorite poet. This anthology is like a greatest hits album. There are too many good poems in this book to choose.

One of the things that I found astounding while reading through these poems is how many things human beings can be passionate about. Love, family, grief, nature, and the world around us—sure, I got that. I expected that. Passion itself? That threw me for a loop. Not only that, but passion from the inside and the outside, if you will. A battle with passion and advice about passion. Passion for the simple things in life, life’s silly moments that remind us of people and our love for them. Passion that lies within our imagination.

Passion within our imagination is to be expected in this cohort. Authors, poets, career women, strong women. These authors invite us into their imagination through books and blog posts on a near constant basis. That’s why I knew so many—I follow their blogs—I’ve read their books—I enjoy their poetry. That Robbie and Kaye Lynne were able to round them up and assemble a collection of poems around a common theme is amazing. Amazing and so very well done.

If you don’t want to take my word for it, click into the launch series. If you scroll through the weeks’ worth of posts, you will learn about the poets, read some poems, and hear some of them read their work. It’s well worth it, even if you own the book. If you don’t own the book but are convinced that it’s wonderful and you want to buy it, click here.

The lilacs have started to bloom
The white lilac was the first to pop
After the rain ended
The lilacs seem to like the rain
We had almost 3″(8cm) of rain Saturday night and Sunday
The bunny nibbles in our Forsythia
These pear trees are used for decoration along the highway


If you like magical realism with suspense, action and a bit of family sarcasm, you will enjoy these books:

Knuckleheads
The Evil You Choose
When Evil Chooses You

Series page on Amazon

My profile page (and books) on Lulu

All available on Kindle Unlimited!

162 comments

  2. Good morning Dan, two great reviews here and you always make them a pleasure to read…it’s like a conversation!
    I am also familiar with Liz Gauffreau’s work she is an extraordinary poet! I look forward to reading this book!
    Thank you for the kind words about Poetry Treasures 3 Kaye and Robbie put a great deal of effort into this anthology and I am excited to be part of it!
    As ever the photos are gorgeous especially the lilacs 💜☺️

    Liked by 3 people

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  3. Your comment about grief — that it is personal — is so very true. But it’s universal too (unfortunately), and so writing about it can touch many. I can appreciate the value in writing about little things too; our lives are filled with them. It’s good to read a writer’s observations about writers and writing. Thanks!

    Liked by 1 person

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  6. I think anyone who can put pen to paper, or fingers to keyboard, and create a poem or novel or essay that others enjoy reading is an extremely gifted individual. Kudos to you all.

    Your lilacs are gorgeous. I was happy to see a ginormous bunny in our yard this morning.

    Old Glory stands out in any crowd, doesn’t she?
    Ginger

    Liked by 2 people

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  13. Reblogged this on Elizabeth Gauffreau and commented:

    I was so touched by Dan Antion’s review of Grief Songs: Poems of Love & Remembrance that I had to share it. In the same post, he has also reviewed Poetry Treasures 3: Passions, a new themed poetry anthology that readers are enjoying.

    I’ve closed comments. If you get a chance, I’d love to see you at Dan’s place!

    Liked by 2 people

    Reply

  16. ‘Grief Songs’ is such a pretty title, though. To me it speaks to ‘get the tissue box close by, but we will get through this together.’ Wonderful review, Dan. Memories long forgotten are the best.

    Liked by 2 people

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  18. Wonderful reviews, Dan. I loved Grief Songs. Liz is an amazing writer/poet. I marvel at her choice of words. And I’ve just loaded Poetry Treasures! I’ll soon be posting a review. Thank you for sharing and for supporting all these great poets/writers. ❤️

    Liked by 2 people

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  20. I loved Liz Gauffreau’s book of poetry. Beautiful collection.
    I haven’t yet gotten the Poetry Treasures but it’s on my to-buy list.
    Our lilacs have not even started yet!! I’m extremely jealous.

    Liked by 2 people

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  23. Wow. This volume is getting a lot of great press. That’s wonderful. (Although now I wish I had asked to get credit for the cover. Creating each “bubble” was like making an additional cover in itself.) Congrats again to all these lovely poets, and to Robbie for the tremendous task of pulling everything together. Hugs.

    Liked by 4 people

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  28. These are excellent reviews Dan–we see clearly how you connected with both books while getting an idea of the contents. I too know Liz and many of the poets in the anthology and all are worth the reading. (K)

    Liked by 2 people

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  32. Hi Dan, I also appreciated Liz’s beautiful book, Grief Songs. I loved Telling Sonny too. Thank you for your lovely review of PT3. These collections are great fun to put together and I love the Treasuring Poetry series which aims to showcase poets in the blogging community and share about their wonderful blogs and books.

    Liked by 3 people

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  35. What beautiful reviews, Dan. I just loved Liz’s book. Like you, my memories and experienced weren’t identical to hers, but there was so much that was relatable. There are emotional elements of human life that we all share. And thanks for the review of Passions. It was such fun to be part of the project. I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but look forward to it. :-D

    Liked by 3 people

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  36. Hi Dan, These are two beautiful reviews I enjoyed reading very much. I’ve been kind of busy with my own book and NaPoWriMo and missed reading your and everybody else’s posts. I’m happy to be back :) 4 more days of poetry to go. Yayy.

    As always, your pictures are lovely. The lilacs are pretty and was that a bunny, somewhere, in one of them?

    Congratulations to Liz on the poetry book. I’ll add it to my tbr. I’m very happy to be part of Poetry Treasures. Robbie and Kaye did an amazing job putting it together. Teagen’s cover for the book is awesome, too. Kudos to all of them.

    Liked by 3 people

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  37. Reblogged this on and commented:

    Thank you to author, Dan Antion, for including a review of Poetry Treasures 3: Passions in his 2ReviewTues post. I am delighted that this anthology is featured together with Grief Songs by poet and author, Elizabeth Gauffreau. Dan has recently published three books in the Dreamer’s Alliance series. I’ve read the first book and it is excellent so do take a look around while you are there.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  40. What a wonderful review, Dan. Thank you. I am so glad you enjoyed this unique collection. And congratulations to Liz on her collection as well. It sounds like it might be a useful collection. We all struggle with losses in life, don’t we?

    Liked by 2 people

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  44. Nice review, Dan. I’m familiar with Liz and Robbie’s writing. I’m sure these are wonderful books.
    I’ve just finished reading “Lion Scream”. I’m impressed with what Robbie did with this book.

    Liked by 2 people

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  46. Great reviews, Dan. this is the second review I’ve read of Passions in as many days. It’s on my bucket list to read. Like you, there are so many authors that I know and love. I can’t wait to read it. Thanks for sharing this great review and the springy pictures. :)

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  47. I’m late to the April poetry party, but I’m still delighted to read your spot-on and warm review of Liz Gauffreau’s Grief Songs. Wonderful book, wonderful author. (And this comes from someone who usually reads everything but poetry.) Thank you!

    Liked by 2 people

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  48. Wonderful review, and especially of Liz’s poetry… she is an artist with “the accompanying photographs paint a complete picture of scene and emotion. Liz pulled me into her world, then and now, and I think I understand.”

    Liked by 2 people

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