Poetry Review

Poetry Review: “On Colonized Ground” by Rebecca Dietrich

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Rating: 3 stars

Headline: Rebecca Dietrich’s poetry collection delves into identity, resilience, and colonialism with broadly interesting results

Review:

On Colonized Ground is the new poetry collection from author Rebecca Dietrich. A short collection of twenty one poems, in Dietrich’s own words, this a collection which aims to explore “identity, legacy, and resilience”, while also confronting “colonialism and the resulting pain and generational trauma.”

Within this standalone collection, poems range from the short (and not so sweet), including “The Last Lullaby”, to poems which are broader in length, such as is the case with “The Road to Dorothy”, which tips into a second page. The book also includes the previously published “Taken”, which featured in the 2023 anthology, S/He Speaks: Voices of Women and Trans Folx. A personal favourite of the collection is “Gen Z”, which succinctly highlights the challenges faced by the younger generation(s), past and present.

The poems within On Colonized Ground are, superficially, good. They all set a striking cord of frustration and resilience, set within first person narrative (presumably that of the author herself). This tone of voice and perspective is effective, however toward the end it starts to feel a little repetitive and lacking an injection of variety. A poem such as “Collapse”, retold through the perspective of nature as it watches the world crumble around them, would have been an interesting avenue to take, as opposed to the human narrator blasting an unnamed person, or group. This is spit-balling here, but in essence this broadly is where the collection lacks. It needs a differing perspective to make the reader truly walk away from this collection with more questions than answers, and a greater drive to want to be that instrument of change.

As poetry collections go, On Colonized Ground marks a solid starting point from Dietrich. With a bit more thought into wider voices and perspectives, the only way is up.

AEB Reviews

Links:

Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “On Colonized Ground” by Rebecca Dietrich

Purchase Link: “On Colonized Ground” by Rebecca Dietrich (Amazon)

Author website: https://rebeccadietrichpoetry.wordpress.com/

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Poetry Review: “Defining Thoughts Poetry” by Victoria Halton

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Rating: 2 stars

Headline: Poor formatting and overuse of purple prose prevent “Defining Thoughts Poetry” from being the collection it could be

Review:

Defining Thoughts Poetry is the new poetry publication by Victoria Halton. A cross between poetry and storytelling, this eighty-eight page collection aims to, as Halton presents it, transport readers to a world “where extortionary becomes reality”. The book also includes photographic shots, which add flavour and drama towards the written content.

Within this collection, most of Halton’s poems follow a conventional layout of non-rhyming three and four line stanzas and, while there is nothing explicitly linking the poems, patterns soon emerge in Halton’s enchanting descriptions of scenes and locations. The strong writing calibre serves as a strong reminder that this is not Halton’s first entry into the poetry market. The poem “Remember the Scent” was a personal favourite, in its depiction of both a relatable experience, cleverly demonstrating the intertwined link between smell and memory.

The book’s main challenges come, in many ways, within its strengths. While it is an impressive talent, Halton’s over use of purple prose damages the reading experience, leaving readers tangled in excessive flowery and ornate language that loses meaning. It makes Defining Thoughts Poetry confusing, if not impenetrable, at points.

There is also the major issue of book’s formatting. Somewhere along the line Halton and/or her team decided to put the copy of this book onto a bronze ripple effect background. Unfortunately doing this makes the book incredibly hard to read, as the varying backing colours fight against the copy overlayed on top. When the copy already demands a good deal of thought and consideration, the background serves as an additional, and unneeded, distraction. The book should have been published on a standardised white background.

Reading Defining Thoughts Poetry inspires a mixture of conflicting thoughts and feelings. While on the surface this is a book that had every potential to succeed, its failings are difficult to overlook. If Halton reigned in her use of purple prose, this could have had the bones of an exceptional read. The truth is, sometimes you just want a spade to be called a spade.

AEB Reviews

Links:

Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews – “Defining Thoughts Poetry” by Victoria Halton

Purchase Link: “Defining Thoughts Poetry” by Victoria Halton (Amazon)

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Poetry Review: “Cairo” by Kolton Lane

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Rating: A well-written poetry collection set across the shores of America and Egypt

Headline: 4 stars

Review:

Cairo is the new poetry collection from the author Kolton Lane. Despite the title, Cairo splits itself into two distinct geographical regions, the first half focusing itself on America and the second on Egypt. There is also a final third section which is comprised of a short story titled “Inseparable Threads”, which is set in Kansas, America.

Poems in this book follow what many would consider to be a traditionalist, conventional style of poetry, with block stanzas and rhyming couples used frequently to great effect. There is a sense of clam and ease while reading the poems, that nothing within the reader’s eye needs to be rushed. Personal favourites include the poems “Waters of the Nile” and “Dust Storms” which romanticises the arterial river which dominates the very fabric of what Egypt is and was.

The inclusion of the short story “Inseparable Threads” feels a bit out of kilter with the rest of the book. While like the rest of the book, the words are well written, by the author’s own admission, it is not a integral part of the collection. In the foreword preceding the story, Lane states, “who knows, maybe the next book may be a collection of short stories.” It is an element that probably should have been debuted elsewhere. The title of this book, Cairo, might also have benefitted from being more flattering to the boarder locations referenced, seeing as the first half the book is set in America and the second half does not limit itself to the city boarders of the Egyptian capital.

When it comes to poetry, the best collections are the ones with either a sense of urgency or a sense of place. With Cairo, Lane has successfully managed to target the latter camp to great effect. With poems that are well put together with nice deployment of visual language, reading this book will make you long for sunny days on distant shores.

AEB Reviews

Links:

Reedsy Discovery Review: AEB Reviews -“Cairo” by Kolton Lane

Purchase Link: “Cairo” by Kolton Lane (Amazon)

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