Review by Kibetious -- Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly
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Kibet Hillary
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Review by Kibetious -- 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 official title of the book is Bleeding Gull- Look, Feel, Fly. It is a collection of 88 poems. The author of the book is Raed Anis Al-Jishi. The genre of the book is drama and poetry.
The poems in the book describe several feelings that all human beings experience. How the author managed to compile all these poems is simply amazing. This is because all the poems address the various issues from the angle of the feelings they elicit. The poems show the possibility of actually living harmoniously with any situation in life. For example, the author shows us that we do not have to be afraid of some inevitable circumstances such as sadness and death. The poems also bring out the need to share our feelings with those around us. For example, in the poem ‘Grieve’, the author writes:
‘Some grief can’t end
Till it hurts you more
Than you bear to speak’
In the poem ‘The Fifth Gate’, the persona in the poem describes the mixed feelings that are within us. The feelings arise from different states such as frozen emotions, desires that cannot be fulfilled, silence and hope. It appears that hope cannot be put out by anything. These poems all point to one eventuality. The eventuality is that life is like a pendulum. We will not always be at a constant point in life. At times, we will be sad and at other times we will be happy. We are, however, assured that no condition is permanent. The author tries to pass a message that at times we have to forget our past experiences and let our lives be like the morning that awaits the evening to come.
I enjoyed reading the poems and I have learnt some important lessons as well. The poems are of varying lengths with some being as short as having one verse made up of three short lines. It is important to note that the author did not follow the traditional way of writing poems. The poems here are in the genre of modern poetry hence one may fail to find some features of traditional poetry such as rhyme scheme, alliteration, assonance and consonance. However, there are a few instances in some poems where the author made use of repetition.
Most of the poems require one to read more than once in order to get the intended messages. Some poems sound a bit complicated to decipher their intended messages and would require some skills in poetry. This means that getting the actual contextual message may not be that simple. The persona in the poems vary differently by sex, age and the conditions in which they are in. In some poems you will find the persona is an expectant woman. In others you will find other personas such as a sleepless poet, a lover, an autistic girl and a woman suffering from breast cancer. The use of a persona such an autistic girl in the poem ‘Autism girl’ enables us to feel first-hand what such a person experiences. This is unlike using a third person to describe what this autistic girl would be feeling.
I would rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. The author has done an amazing work and the poems address what we have to come face-to-face with constantly. The author has been able to address some issues such as discrimination against those with some conditions such as Autism and I believe this is what gives the book a relevance in our society at our current time too. Breast Cancer is another condition that has been addressed also through the persona of a breastfeeding mother who cannot understand why her baby cannot suckle the left breast.
On the other hand, I felt that the 82nd and 83rd poems were too short and thus I could not get their messages. However, this cannot affect the general rating of the book. I recommend this book to everyone who loves poems and anyone who would like to take a lesson on how to get the best out of every moment.
One lesson to take from this book is that, ‘Life is neither at the best nor at the worst always. We are a pendulum and each moment prepares us for the next.’
******
Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly
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4 out of 4 stars
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The official title of the book is Bleeding Gull- Look, Feel, Fly. It is a collection of 88 poems. The author of the book is Raed Anis Al-Jishi. The genre of the book is drama and poetry.
The poems in the book describe several feelings that all human beings experience. How the author managed to compile all these poems is simply amazing. This is because all the poems address the various issues from the angle of the feelings they elicit. The poems show the possibility of actually living harmoniously with any situation in life. For example, the author shows us that we do not have to be afraid of some inevitable circumstances such as sadness and death. The poems also bring out the need to share our feelings with those around us. For example, in the poem ‘Grieve’, the author writes:
‘Some grief can’t end
Till it hurts you more
Than you bear to speak’
In the poem ‘The Fifth Gate’, the persona in the poem describes the mixed feelings that are within us. The feelings arise from different states such as frozen emotions, desires that cannot be fulfilled, silence and hope. It appears that hope cannot be put out by anything. These poems all point to one eventuality. The eventuality is that life is like a pendulum. We will not always be at a constant point in life. At times, we will be sad and at other times we will be happy. We are, however, assured that no condition is permanent. The author tries to pass a message that at times we have to forget our past experiences and let our lives be like the morning that awaits the evening to come.
I enjoyed reading the poems and I have learnt some important lessons as well. The poems are of varying lengths with some being as short as having one verse made up of three short lines. It is important to note that the author did not follow the traditional way of writing poems. The poems here are in the genre of modern poetry hence one may fail to find some features of traditional poetry such as rhyme scheme, alliteration, assonance and consonance. However, there are a few instances in some poems where the author made use of repetition.
Most of the poems require one to read more than once in order to get the intended messages. Some poems sound a bit complicated to decipher their intended messages and would require some skills in poetry. This means that getting the actual contextual message may not be that simple. The persona in the poems vary differently by sex, age and the conditions in which they are in. In some poems you will find the persona is an expectant woman. In others you will find other personas such as a sleepless poet, a lover, an autistic girl and a woman suffering from breast cancer. The use of a persona such an autistic girl in the poem ‘Autism girl’ enables us to feel first-hand what such a person experiences. This is unlike using a third person to describe what this autistic girl would be feeling.
I would rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. The author has done an amazing work and the poems address what we have to come face-to-face with constantly. The author has been able to address some issues such as discrimination against those with some conditions such as Autism and I believe this is what gives the book a relevance in our society at our current time too. Breast Cancer is another condition that has been addressed also through the persona of a breastfeeding mother who cannot understand why her baby cannot suckle the left breast.
On the other hand, I felt that the 82nd and 83rd poems were too short and thus I could not get their messages. However, this cannot affect the general rating of the book. I recommend this book to everyone who loves poems and anyone who would like to take a lesson on how to get the best out of every moment.
One lesson to take from this book is that, ‘Life is neither at the best nor at the worst always. We are a pendulum and each moment prepares us for the next.’
******
Bleeding Gull - look, feel, fly
View: on Bookshelves
Like Kibetious's review? Post a comment saying so!
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