Official Review: Poet Duet

[Christina O Phillips]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Poet Duet" by Florence Adams Clark and Carolyn Clark.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Writers can say things that others have difficulty expressing. Reading a good book of poetry is like holding a mirror up to your emotions and seeing them on a page. I just finished reading an enjoyable book of poetry written by not one but two poets.

Poet Duet: A Mother and Daughter is a poetry book written by Florence Adams Clark and Carolyn Clark. The book is only 79 pages. Some of the poems were previously published, but many were not, which is fully explained in an author’s note at the beginning. It is divided into two parts, Journeys Intertwined (which has 40 poems) and Unwinding (which has 23 poems).

The poems of Florence stood out to me the most, maybe because the book started with a few of hers first. She used her line breaks well and her lines were tight and rhythmic. While all her poems were written in free verse, she played with rhyme schemes and used different ones in each poem. Poetry is about life, a poet making the reader think about or see something differently and Florence’s poems do this well. My favorite of hers were “First Signs” and “Caregiver.” This is not to say that Carolyn’s poems were not good. Her poems were equally lyrical and talked about subjects like life, love, and nature.

Poetry is subjective and it is hard for me, especially since I write poems myself, to label a work of poetry as bad or to point out flaws. I think for me there was one disappointment and it is not due to the writers’ pieces, it was my own assumption. When I read the word “duet” and saw this book was written by both a mother and a daughter, I had different expectations. When I read the word “duet,” I thought of a song where there is give and take, maybe a conversation, between the two artists. I thought that there would be a topic and then I could read a poem about the mother’s perspective and then a poem from the daughter’s perspective. This was not the case. Though organized by theme, there did not seem to be a reason for the order of poems.

I rate this book a 3 out of 4 stars. I recommend it to anyone who likes poetry, whether the reader is new to the genre or a seasoned veteran.

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Poet Duet
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[Ngozi Onyibor]

I am new to poetry and this sounds like a beautiful collection. I especially like that it is written by a mother and daughter. As you said, it would have been interesting to read about their perspectives on various issues, though.