Rating: 2 stars
Headline: “This is Wisdom”: a poetry collection driven by passion but executed in a way that feels somewhat lacking
Review:
This is Wisdom: By Understanding My Poetry, is a collection of poems penned by author Ronnell Beaty.
Spanning 244 pages, the poetry collection itself covers around 200 pages. Topics of Beaty’s writing includes the spiritual and physical, as the reader transverses the inner workings of the poet’s deepest thoughts.
Most of the poems in Beaty’s collection are constructed as one line stanzas, with key words or phrases formatted in a bold typeface for added emphasis. This often results in a tone of voice that is either very punchy, or symbolic of the monotony of mundane human thoughts, witnessed strongly in the poem “I Be The First To Listen – And The Last To Speak!”. In this poem, Beaty transports readers into the head space of someone stripped of their voice. The deployment of repetition in this poem strikes out acutely across the stanzas, including the lines, “I don’t, // Even speak. // I just: // Listen… // I just: // Listen…” Used in this way Beaty’s words showcase an individual reduced to boredom, or even submission itself.
While there are some respectable elements of this collection, Beaty’s overuse of the same poetic style is repetitive and dry. There is a lack of variety to demonstrate the artistic merit of the author and, by keeping the tone of voice monotonous, it does tend to inspire feelings of boredom within the readership Beaty strives to inspire.
In additional to this, and despite the book presenting itself as quick read, the number of poems in this monosyllabic style becomes hard to overlook. It is what prevents This is Wisdom from inspiring much beyond a stifled yawn. There is talent in Beaty, so potentially the collection would have benefitted from being split into two distinctive books, done so to include more variety of poetic deployments.
A poetry collection driven by passion, This Is Wisdom is executed in a way that sadly feels somewhat lacking.
AEB Reviews
Links:
Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “This Is Wisdom: By Understanding My Poetry” by Ronnell Beaty
Purchase Link: “This Is Wisdom: By Understanding My Poetry” by Ronnell Beaty (Amazon)
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