Review of Poetry for Life
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- Nisha Ward
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Review of Poetry for Life
Poetry for Life by Booker T. Smith is a well-written, well-edited book that I gave 3 out of 4 stars. It’s a book of poetry focused on giving life advice to young, at-risk youth that Smith worked with. Written in a straightforward tone, the book is filled with poems meant to inspire hope for a better life through hard work and faith.
As far as summaries go, that’s about as much as I can write for this book. It’s pretty short, and it’s that brevity that led to me taking a point from the rating in the first place. I think the author could have done so much more with the concept than what we got. That’s not to say that what is there is insufficient. Rather, it’s more that there could have been, well, more. This would have worked towards emphasising the author’s point.
I did, however, like the author’s tone, and this contributed to my rating. For example, “Back to School” doesn’t cut corners in explaining the importance of school. In much the same way, both “Sista” and “Genius Child” celebrate black talent, whether that be the girl in the neighbourhood trying to achieve something or George Washington Carver.
The poems aren’t all sunshine and rainbows, though. “Selling Heaven” is pretty dark, something that continues in “For Heaven’s Sake” and its admonition to stop and straighten out one’s life before it becomes too late. Still, that doesn’t mean they aren’t inspirational. Rather, they balance out the call to faith and goodness inherent to the book with a grounded reality.
It’s that grounded nature that also contributed to my rating. As much as I thought the poetry was already moving, I still appreciated the way these poems also kept my feet on the ground. It’s good because it gives the readers something to aim for, which is what I believe the author is going for.
More than that, I just liked the overall hopeful tone of the book. Most of it may be Smith giving advice, but it still feels like he sees a bright future for his charges. This was quite important to me, given that the topics he handles, like crime and the sale of drugs, are pretty heavy already. There needed to be that sense of something better for the book to work. This would help with exactly that.
It's also rooted in the author’s faith. There’s this belief that things can and will get better through that faith, and I think this was important for a book like this. Faith in a higher being enhances hope. Moreover, it lightens the advice that the author gives through his poems, making it come across as fatherly and caring. I liked that a lot.
All in all, it’s a fairly good book. As I mentioned before, it’s well-edited, and my points above are why I rated it so highly. I’d recommend this book to teenagers in need of a direction in life. It’s a good book for finding that, I think.
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Poetry for Life
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