3 out of 4 stars
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Cycle of Being is written by Jahleen Wright and published by IslandGirlPoetry. Although it is classified as non-fiction, it also falls under the drama and poetry genre.
The book is a collection of poems written by the author that describes different phases and experiences in her life. The poems are divided into five main themes. These are: Hope, Imagination, Passion, Enterprise, and Contemplation. Under each of these headings are poems that relate to this theme.
I shall be summarizing a few of the poems below:
The first poem in the book “Cycle of Being” speaks about the changes in the author's life, while the poem “Believe” talks about the future, and her belief in God. “Truth” talks about her childhood and the experience of being separated from her mother, while the poem "Trust" talks about persevering and trusting yourself, and continuing to believe in yourself. “Reflections of ME” is about the author pondering about herself in the mirror, while “Frozen in Time” is about capturing beautiful memories.
There are 86 pages altogether, and on page 22, in the poem titled “I write”, the author says:
“I write to express life and the things I see,
I write for you, but mainly for me…”
From this quote, I take that the process of writing is often personal and is more for the writer than for the reader.
What I liked about the book was that the author was able to express her feelings through poetry, and the reader is able to understand and perceive these feelings. Of all the poems, several of them were my favorite. The first one I particularly liked is titled “I write” and it is about the reasons why the author chooses to write and how she finds it as a way to express herself. My second favorite poem was one titled “Set free” and is about seeking approval and acceptance from the ones she loves.
I liked most of the book, however, I didn’t really enjoy reading the chapter titled “Passion”. Most of the poems in this chapter were sexual in nature and it deals with the experiences that the author goes through. The author writes about these experiences in quite some detail, and some readers may be uncomfortable reading this.
The poems were mostly made of simple rhyming words. They ranged from less than a page to two pages in length. I rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars. I gave it this rating because I found most of the poems enjoyable and pleasant to read. I didn’t give it a 4 stars because I didn’t enjoy reading the chapter titled Passion. However, that may be my personal preference. I would recommend this book to those who enjoy poetry or even those who would like to try something new.
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Cycle of Being
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