The Dragon in the Room

J. K. E. Rose
iUniverse, 72 pages, (paperback) $10.95, 9781491713174
(Reviewed: February, 2014)

Two failed marriages inspired J.K.E. Rose’s dark collection of 59 free verse and casually rhymed poems about chasing internal and external dragons, her metaphor for love. Mostly focused on romantic relationships, additional poems examine family and self. Rather than individual titles, poems fall under nearly three-dozen “dragon” headings, such as DRAGONSBLOOD, DRAGONLOVE, DRAGONDREAM, DRAGONBITTER and DRAGONSBANE, which are repeated throughout the book.

In addition to the dragon motif, a Viking futhark (from the Runic alphabet) divides poems into sections. Back matter titled “AFTER THE END” introduces yet another symbolic idea, Kintsukuroi, the Japanese art of restoring shattered fragments of pottery to its original form, but allowing the “healed wounds” to remain visible.

Despite the plethora of symbolic framework, the actual poems are fairly straightforward, repeating common words and images, such as blood, scars, tears, skin, bones, dreams, death, and, of course, dragons. The book retains a narrow focus with first-person accounts lamenting the author’s solitude (“You told me not to bleed, / not to stare wide-eyed with loneliness, / not to shiver with despair”) and attributing blame (“I prove you wrong / I make me strong”). Poems toward the end offer glimmers of hope: “I will not fall in love again -- / not fall but soar aloft.”

The strength of this collection lies in the writer’s wordplay. Rose juxtaposes words with similar sounds to add artfulness to routine observations: “if all I need is breath and bread and breadth of hope, / then let me stay” and “I wish, I want, I breathe / holding / haven / heaven // exhale / exhaust then / exit.” She also includes colorful imagery (in addition to dragons), comparing herself to a mountain, marriage to a lion, and her protective shell to a snake scale.

While the author offers little in the way of new insights into love, those with the same dark mindset and affinity for dragons may find poems to appreciate in this book.

Also available as an ebook.

Author’s Current Residence
Ontario, Canada

Source: BlueInk Reviews

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Essential Writings: A Journey Through Time, 2nd and Revised Edition

Helmut Schwab
iUniverse, 145 pages, (paperback) $14.95, 9781475960259
(Reviewed: July, 2013)

Helmut Schwab’s Essential Writings: A Journey through Time aims to distill the author’s previous essays on topics as diverse as the origin of the universe, human evolution, consciousness, and the search for spiritual meaning. The subtitle, “A modern ‘De Rerum Natura’” is a reference to Lucretius’s work of the same name, which spanned topics within the sciences as well as speculations about mind and soul.

Essential Writings emulates Lucretius’s approach from a time when science and religion were seen as simply branches of philosophy. The project is broad, aiming to explain many of the mysteries of existence and the human condition from the dawn of time into the future, and Schwab is skilled at synthesizing neuroscience, biochemistry, psychology, and philosophy of mind in a way that is accessible to a wider audience. Particularly notable is his economical explanation of the debate on free will.

Schwab’s treatment of politics and religion is nuanced and complex. He shares compelling arguments for agnosticism, if not atheism, but he finds relevant guidance in the moral teachings of religious traditions. His morality is grounded in virtues of personal fulfillment, service to others, and aesthetic appreciation. Readers may object to his implication that violence is endemic to (but certainly not exclusive to) Islam, yet he also demonstrates empathy for the plight of Palestinians.

Essential Writings is a niche book, with primary appeal for academics in philosophy or similar fields. It is overly ambitious in seeking to describe and justify a worldview about so much of our existence in so short a format, and the passages are too brief to be as effective as they could be. (Note: Schwab’s longer essays are available on his website.) In addition, it occasionally feels as if the author added threads of thought, ad hoc, to unrelated topics.

Despite such drawbacks, this project has commendable moments of real success grappling with complicated ideas that will interest its specific audience.

Also available in hardcover and ebook.

Author’s Current Residence
Princeton, New Jersey

Source: BlueInk Review

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