Review by CambaReviewer -- Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly
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Chigozie Anuli Mbadugha
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Review by CambaReviewer -- Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly
[Following is a volunteer review of "Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly" by Raed Anis Aljishi.]
4 out of 4 stars
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The Bleeding Gull by Raed Anis Al-Jishi is a poetry book that contains eighty-eight poems. Raed Anis Al-Jishi is a chemistry teacher and a poet. Raed lives in Saudi Arabia. He is a feminist and a human rights activist. His feminist stance can be deciphered from the way he writes about issues that affect women with subtle gentility and underlying respect. His poem "Pregnancy" captures the physical changes and pain women go through when they are pregnant. In his poem about breast cancer, he writes from the unusual perspective of the suckling child. The suckling child sensing that one of the mother's breasts is abnormal, refuses to suck from it. His poem about Autism is a subtle reminder that this poet is also a scientist. His human rights activism stance is evident in some of the poems in which he discusses physical imprisonment as well as "imprisonment" due to substance abuse and addiction. Most of the poems in this book have a universal appeal. They do not show a particular cultural context. His reference to turbans, sands, and Arabian coffee in a few poems, however, may be suggestive of his Arabian linkage.
Most of the poems in this book are free verse poems. They have no set meter, no rhyme scheme, and no particular structure. Nevertheless, they provide artistic expression. The author may have wanted to explore the liberty of thinking and writing freely without the encumbrance of strict literary rules. The poems are all short and each poem is on a separate page in the book. The brevity of the poems speaks volumes and deepens the message of the poet. Towards the end of the book, there are two haiku poems - "iCat" and "Rising." While "Rising" has the traditional Japanese 5-7-5 syllabic format, "iCat" has a 5-5-5 syllabic format. Though rhyming is not an essential feature of haikus, lines 1 and 3 of both poems rhyme.
The poems in this book have both overt and underlying messages about important events in life. The themes explored are varied and universal. The author explores themes such as grief, death, love, life, imprisonment, addiction, martyrdom, illness, aging, and plagiarism. Raed Anis Al-Jishi writes a lot about nature in these poems. He drew my attention to our natural environment by writing about wind, flowers, clouds, seas, gulls, and sands in a lot of the poems.
The poet uses enjambment to add weight to his poems. His words were able to evoke imagery in my mind. The liberal use of personification created emotions in me by making his subject matters appear human. Some examples of personification in some poems are: "arrogant ice, anxiety of poetry, bleeding flowers, wailing fig, and confused land." He used irony when he wrote about "jailed clouds" in the poem "Jailed but Free."
The tone of most of the poems is serious. The mood of the poems is largely realistic. The poet states his observations as they are. He is unapologetic about them. The effect of this tone of me is that I could independently draw my own conclusions and react to the messages in the poems. It is only in a few poems that I detected a playful tone.
My favourite poem in this collection is "Grieve." I could relate to this poem because I lost a family member six months ago. I am still struggling to recover from the pain of that loss. The last three lines of "Grieve" were:
******
Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly
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4 out of 4 stars
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The Bleeding Gull by Raed Anis Al-Jishi is a poetry book that contains eighty-eight poems. Raed Anis Al-Jishi is a chemistry teacher and a poet. Raed lives in Saudi Arabia. He is a feminist and a human rights activist. His feminist stance can be deciphered from the way he writes about issues that affect women with subtle gentility and underlying respect. His poem "Pregnancy" captures the physical changes and pain women go through when they are pregnant. In his poem about breast cancer, he writes from the unusual perspective of the suckling child. The suckling child sensing that one of the mother's breasts is abnormal, refuses to suck from it. His poem about Autism is a subtle reminder that this poet is also a scientist. His human rights activism stance is evident in some of the poems in which he discusses physical imprisonment as well as "imprisonment" due to substance abuse and addiction. Most of the poems in this book have a universal appeal. They do not show a particular cultural context. His reference to turbans, sands, and Arabian coffee in a few poems, however, may be suggestive of his Arabian linkage.
Most of the poems in this book are free verse poems. They have no set meter, no rhyme scheme, and no particular structure. Nevertheless, they provide artistic expression. The author may have wanted to explore the liberty of thinking and writing freely without the encumbrance of strict literary rules. The poems are all short and each poem is on a separate page in the book. The brevity of the poems speaks volumes and deepens the message of the poet. Towards the end of the book, there are two haiku poems - "iCat" and "Rising." While "Rising" has the traditional Japanese 5-7-5 syllabic format, "iCat" has a 5-5-5 syllabic format. Though rhyming is not an essential feature of haikus, lines 1 and 3 of both poems rhyme.
The poems in this book have both overt and underlying messages about important events in life. The themes explored are varied and universal. The author explores themes such as grief, death, love, life, imprisonment, addiction, martyrdom, illness, aging, and plagiarism. Raed Anis Al-Jishi writes a lot about nature in these poems. He drew my attention to our natural environment by writing about wind, flowers, clouds, seas, gulls, and sands in a lot of the poems.
The poet uses enjambment to add weight to his poems. His words were able to evoke imagery in my mind. The liberal use of personification created emotions in me by making his subject matters appear human. Some examples of personification in some poems are: "arrogant ice, anxiety of poetry, bleeding flowers, wailing fig, and confused land." He used irony when he wrote about "jailed clouds" in the poem "Jailed but Free."
The tone of most of the poems is serious. The mood of the poems is largely realistic. The poet states his observations as they are. He is unapologetic about them. The effect of this tone of me is that I could independently draw my own conclusions and react to the messages in the poems. It is only in a few poems that I detected a playful tone.
My favourite poem in this collection is "Grieve." I could relate to this poem because I lost a family member six months ago. I am still struggling to recover from the pain of that loss. The last three lines of "Grieve" were:
Lovers of poetry will enjoy reading this collection of poems. I was a little apprehensive about reviewing this book because I don't read poetry often. However, it turned out to be a pleasurable experience for me. I could relate to the messages in the poems. I found no grammatical errors so I presume that this book was professionally edited. I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars.Some grief can't end
Till it hurts you more
Than you bear to speak.
******
Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly
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