A note: As a child, I always had stuffed animals. I never slept without them. I never thought about anything bad while holding one and they helped me to feel safe. I know that this poem is sad, but it is in essence a hopeful one. Those bad situations come to an end and there is always hope for bright spots in the future. Christmas to me is about hope and from that this poem was born.
Thank you all for reading! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!
Cover Rating: 4/10 it’s simple and fits the title, but it’s not something that really stands out. It’s not something that would really attract my attention in a book store.
Publisher: Book Baby
Publish Date: June 1st, 2019
Number of Pages: 86
Received: Netgalley provided an e-arc in exchange for an honest review
The Voice of My Mind, by author T. A. Fish, is an avant-garde poetry collection that took over 5 years to complete. Each poem is beautifully crafted with great virtuosity, that haunts with extreme depth and wonder. The collection deals with themes of grief, love, spiritual enlightenment, and philosophy. From beginning to end, the poems read in a mesmerizing and captivating style, expertly flowing from one theme to the next.
Opening Poem:
Treasure
The pyre of life Is a great treasure chest;
Pouring out All, Of the world’s best.
The fruit of men Is like a deep well;
To find the bottom Time will tell.
The love of God Is like a great vista view;
Endless in boundaries And beauty too.
The hate of the world Is an abominable snow;
Blinding in rage Of what it ought not know.
The knowledge of life Is knowing what is to gain;
Searching all truth And seeking in vain.
Musings:
I think one of the main issues with this collection is how much the same it is. The rhythms are all the same and it’s like reading one long redundant poem and no one wants that.
However, the reason why I rated this 3 stars is because there was 2 poems that I really did enjoy, but even those have the same redundant rhythm and I wish it didn’t.
I will share the one I liked the most with all of you:
Grim
The madness creeping deep within,
The lifeless body of a man named grim;
As a heartless beat quakes the thin,
Revenant who died and rose again.
Writhing and crawling with nary a shin,
Carrying a devilish smile,
disguised as a grin,
His twinkling eyes,
protrude through the dim,
Haze of blackness that encompass his skin.
Seeing a doppelganger claiming his twin,
The unrepentant soul of abhorrent sin,
Seeking to devour his spirited kin;
Dragging his corpse into the depths therein.
Screaming his last, from the pit, of the dungeon,
Never a fate so great and grim,
La fin.
I like this one because it was darker and it made me think of Halloween and creepiness. But, even re-reading it I don’t feel like it has a lasting impression.
Mostly, I just wanted there to be variety in the tone. It’s like the words no longer matter because there was no variety in the beat. It’s like the poetry is trying to be grander then it actually is. It’s not even that the poems themselves are bad. I feel like it’s all trying too hard.
All in all:
This collection had a lot of potential it never tapped into. It had some good topics and some good lines, but it fell lacking to redundancy. It’s a run of the mill poetry collection. Not terrible, but not great. Which is why I gave it the rating I did.
About the Author:
T. A. Fish is a Christian author, who spent over 5 years crafting the deep, provocative, and thought-provoking poetry collection The Voice of My Mind. “The Voice of My Mind is a journey of the human spirit; one that dives into the deepest and darkest crevices of the human mind, and then reaches for the heights of spiritual enlightenment and redemption. ” – T. A. Fish
Thank you all for reading! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!
Today is the day I finally began my own business venture! I am officially the owner of The Book Raven Poetry!
What it’s all about: The Book Raven Poetry is a personalized poetry business where you receive a poem about whatever you want! It can be about a person, a holiday, an idea, a place, anything at all! For only $8 bucks you will receive a completely customized poem on a unique background to digitally download to keep for yourself or give as a gift to a friend or family member!
An Example:
A one of a kind poem is available for purchase now on Etsy!
The Dream: So many of you have been with me from the very start. So it won’t be a surprise to most of you that I’m creating a business from my love of poetry. I’ve written many poems on this site. It would be my pleasure to write poems for all of you. Be it silly, sweet, an anniversary gift, something for your friends to enjoy. It feels incredible that I could create something along side other individuals that is totally unique and personalized to them. Something to make you smile.
A note of thanks: Thank you all for being there for me. This would have never come about without this blog nor the support of all of you. I can’t wait to write some great poetry for all of you!
Thank you all for reading! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below!
We strive and strive to the standards that will always be moved one block above our heads unreachable
Let me say that again unreachable
Because the hands create the blocks and pile them up higher and higher
The video game buzzes “Ok”, “meh”, “perfect”
We climb and climb this ever growing mountain
And dig ourselves a hole of depression and anxiety piled up in our insecurity and worthlessness
We think perfection is the answer to love and all that’s holy, but the truth is we will never get there and acceptance
Well that’s the clarity
When you start to heal the expectation of being anything other then who you are
in every moment of bitterness
you cut the bindings
Suddenly your body is a masterpiece
Suddenly your happiness is within reach
Suddenly your not chasing your creating
Suddenly your not afraid of the societal definition of who you should be
Perfection is spoon fed into the mouths of all our children
Perfection is yelled into 4th grade track teams and football wannabes
Perfection is sewn into the fabric of our literal clothing
But, wouldn’t you be surprised to hear the places that make a profit from the defects
You see nothing you do is worthless
Especially not because that something was a mishap
We all make mistakes, thousands every day
So let’s stop kidding ourselves
Let’s give who we are some kindness
It’s ok. You are ok.
Let’s clean out all the madness
Peace is found in letting go of who we think we need to be
All the thoughts that cause you suffering don’t need to suffocate the joyful laughter that lives inside your ever passionate heart
Dust away those thoughts so you can create a reality of celebrating true humanity
Perfection doesn’t exist and it never did
So stop hurting
Thank you all for reading! Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below! I wrote this poem on a whim like a majority of my poetry. It’s an idea I’ve been thinking about a lot. I hope you enjoyed!
When the sand falls away slipping through open fingers simply flip the scale and the sands start anew racing towards a destiny in the reverse direction.
Be like the child for the child doesn’t have care for what was or what is they take joy in their confusion and delight in each morsel of knowledge that comes their way.
Be like the mother who loves and does not count the child’s mishaps for in her eyes she sees only the love and in that purity nothing else matters.
Be like the air that flows and sustains life, it transforms endlessly and does not fear the change as it comes.
Be like the heart that loves without eyes for it knows the truth of where it’s home lies.
Do what you will in life, for life lives for itself and then it dies. No one knows the truth of death, but the truth of life is nothing and everything matters so be at peace and follow the call of your own beating pulse.
One sees the sun and one sees a star both are right. Peace is when they accept the understanding of another’s perception.
Trying to be perfect is like trying to alchemize gold from dirt, physically impossible and yet the magic of it calls the truest hearts. To let go of perfection is to free the spirt and only then will the best of you shine unencumbered.
The world stops turning for no one. It’s peaceful in its round face. Peace is being unaffected by chaos. Staying grounded in spite of the earths shakes.
Thanks for reading! This is a short bit of poetry. I was thinking of things that help me feel more at peace with myself and what is and this is what came out. Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below.
We’ll spend our nights dreaming of the home we’d build together
Smiling about the sweet music we’d made during the day
We’d laugh and dance through life together
Saying a thousand words with just one look
I can’t wait for the day you put your hand in mine
I can’t wait for the day I laugh with you
I can’t wait for the day I’d whisper in your ear and see you smile with the knowing that every single day I’d take pleasure in choosing you
Tell then, I have mountains to climb, and oceans to cross
Stars to build across my soul
But every lesson, every tick of the clock, brings me closer to the day I finally get to hold you
So for now find peace and be happy
Do what’s right for you
I’ll be working hard and dancing on my own
Till the time comes for me to create a whole new world when I’m with you
One day we’ll stand face to face at the alter
Surrounded by all of those we love
There will be peace and joy and happiness
A new beginning creating one from the two of us
I know it’ll be years before we get there
But oh how sweet it is to dream
Will you dream along with me?
Thanks for reading! I don’t know why, but at the moment I’m feeling really optimistic about the future. Imagining scenarios for what could be has brought me no small measure of peace. One of my greatest desires for my life has been to be with someone I can share my time on this earth with. I don’t know the when or how of it, but I know one day this all will come to be and that’s something to feel good about.
You’ll never see the mess you made by not properly letting go
But if you hadn’t why’d you disappear so completely..
left me in the dark on what your feeling
Only time will tell me if you’d truly gone
You gave me no choice to decide if you were ever a hazard at all
Are you waiting behind that curtain call?
To hear a standing ovation, the thousands to applaud?
I guess I’ll be here dancing on my own
Waiting for arms that may never come to hold me close
Because you vanished without saying goodbye
Or see you later
So I swallow the first as a pill
believe in the possibility of the second
But I feel I may never know the answer
Thanks for reading! This poem is very personal and it’s filled with everything I’m feeling right now. I hope at least you all can take something from it. Let me know your thoughts down in the comments below.
Taking the slow steps of a doe out of a cage and into the forest legs shaking, mind wondering, fear showing in the quiver of matted fur, the mind questions if it is all a trick?
In the grand expanse of a world beyond pain a nose picks up the scent of fresh grass for the first time.
Slow steps forward follow slow steps back until finally the doe is out of the cage and the doors shut behind her.
Every sound is awash with twin thoughts of skittish fear and awe.
The world seems almost too bright for her; the music of the wind, so soft causes her panic.
Yet every moment brings new peace and slowly she walks until she comes upon a stream.
Her nostrils flare and she bends her head drinking fresh clean water for the first time in her life.
Finally she allows herself to bathe in the shallow stream and as the water cleans her fur she starts to prance her heart beating fast with hope.
Her tail wags and her hooves clack against the stone bottom in a happy dance.
Into the night she finds herself shelter and food to eat.
She sleeps a peaceful sleep and her nightmares are chased away by imagined days of prancing.
At last.. At last.. at last the doe is free.
The hunter far away.
The doe dancing in a world where she’d never be seen again.
Thanks for reading! This is a poem that has been one of my absolute favorites to write. When I found the first words everything just started to flow. I miss feeling like that while writing poetry.
