Review of Speaks for Itself: A Commodity of Musings from My Life

[Gabrielle Sigaki]

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Speaks for Itself: A Commodity of Musings from My Life" by Jeffrey Paul Bailey.]

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4 out of 4 stars

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Speaks for Itself: A Commodity of Musings from My Life by Jeffrey Paul Bailey is a short poetry book that brings compositions about several complex themes, such as love, despair, politics, and guilt. The verses are mostly blank and free since I found only a few verses that contain rhymes and regular meter. Notwithstanding, the author brings famous proverbs with unique interpretations and paronomasias that use words with similar pronunciations but different meanings to create depth and lyricism in the author’s work.

One of the poems that caught my attention was “Damper.” In this composition, the speaker talks about a man who criticizes other people based on their appearances. The man only seems to care about what other people wear and says that their sweat is some anatomical error. The narrator censured his attitudes, saying that he should occupy his mind with serious problems that harm the entire population. I liked that poem because it made me think about vanity in modern civilization, where looks are more important than everything else.

My favorite aspect of this book was the authentic author’s style that communicated his feelings with truthfulness through literary expressions, such as metaphors and quibbles. The author fills the compositions with depth and meaning since each sentence complements something stated before, making the poems even more elaborate.

The only aspect I didn’t like in this book was the number of refined words most people don’t commonly use in daily conversations. That aspect disturbed me a little since it might make the compositions harder for some people to read, restricting the target audience to those readers with broader vocabularies. Nevertheless, I won’t take a star off my rating since the aspect is very subjective. Besides, it didn’t affect the enjoyment of my reading, and the book seems professionally edited.

I rate this book 4 out of 4 stars. It is a fascinating poetry book that brings touching and gloomy compositions about various moments in a person’s life. For example, the author shares thoughts about a sense of purpose, or its lack, tragic love stories, and even political reflections. I recommend it to those readers who enjoy reading short poems with deep and loaded meanings since the compositions might awake new thoughts inside the readers’ minds. However, I don’t recommend it to those readers who worry about profanities and subtle erotic descriptions since some of the compositions’ content might disturb them.

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Speaks for Itself: A Commodity of Musings from My Life
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[Aarti Jha]

I am one of those readers who love poems with deep and entrenched meanings so that somehow i could relate to them as well as get to learn to see things from new perspectives. This one might be one such loaded book. Thank you for your review.

[Khushboo Barwar]

As much as the free style seems appealing, I don't like poems which uses words that I'd have to look up in a dictionary. I was hoping that the author provided a glossary for that but seems like there isn't. I'm gonna skip it. Thanks for your deep insight.

[markodim721]

It is very unusual for an author to combine poems in a collection of poetry on topics that are completely unrelated. Thanks for the very informative review.

[Kelvin Mutale 1]

As a music artist it is a great honor for me to go through peons and poetry books

[19blueofficial]

This is such an amazing book. The poems are written in an orderly manner and it is surely a remembrance of modern civilization just like the reviewer mentioned.

[Aisha Yakub]

This is very artistic of the writer. Combining a bunch of societal relevant themes into a book of poems is a great job. This may not appeal to a lot of readers, but those who appreciate poetry with depth will love this. Thank you for this review

[Walter R]

Have always been a great fan of anthologies. Would definitely love to add this to my bookshelf and hopefully try it out! Great review.

[Mildred Echesa]

The poem damper is really remarkable. It portrays characters of many

[Peace10]

I'm not a fan of poetry so I'll pass on this. Great review!

[Stevenmusk]

This book has a good structure and plot. It has a good flow. It seems interesting and captivating. I love poetry .Thanks for the review.

[Azubike Richard]

One thing I love about this book of poems is the arrangement. I must commend the author for that. Great review

[Radhika Nair]

Where's the romance in having everything within reach? Poets yearn for the moon for a reason. I will gladly look up words while reading because words in common usage are often too trivial to suit the purposes of poetic endeavours. But thank you for the honest review.

[Sarah tianna]

This is absolutely my kind of book, I really can't wait to add it to my bookshelf and read it as soon as possible. Drama novels are amazing to read. Mind-blowing review.

[Favour Ugwu Chidinma]

Not a fan of poet work but won't mind going through this book. Thanks for your honest review.