Within and Without
by James Richard Hanson
AuthorHouse
book review by Nicole Yurcaba
“Finally, my mind drifts back to the sun,
but it’s already down.”
In this deeply personal poetry collection, readers discover the small, often overlooked, moments that compose a lifetime’s mosaic. The book opens brightly with the poem “Dawn,” which celebrates those first few seconds in a person’s day. Pieces like “Not Me” offer a sensory experience where sight and sound combine, and the speaker contemplates philosophical questions such as “What is it like to be rain / splattering pavement in the night?” Other poems like “Mozart” offer a deep yet humorous contemplation as the speaker reflects that listening to Mozart is “like a great meal that / I don’t know how to cook.” Other works in the collection offer quietly romantic snippets that acknowledge the boundaries of emotional capability and the intense motivation to continually do better for one’s partner that develops over time.
Passionate, philosophical, and quaintly picturesque, the author’s collection reads like a romantic devotional. Adding to the poems’ impacts are their forms and structures, and the simplicity places emphasis on the themes and subjects the author explores. For those looking for emotionally accessible poetry, this compilation offers a variety of poems that will appeal to readers of all aesthetics. For others who are just beginning to explore poetry, this collection provides a unique pathway into a genre with an ever-expanding audience. Because of its intimate themes and subject matter, this book will make the perfect gift for a person looking to express their emotions to that special someone. In essence, it is a collection sure to delight poetry readers of all backgrounds.
Words to Breathe By
by James Richard Hansen
AuthorHouse
book review by Mihir Shah
“She is lounging
in sunlight, stretched
across a silky white bed.
Our celestial work of art
has just begun.”
Immersed in the imagery of light and dark, sun and moon, Hansen’s work is soothing to the core. From the opening poems, audiences can anticipate the color that is a part of each poem’s identity, and though the pieces are short and simple, their depth is in the thought-provoking juxtapositions of Mother Nature and love.
Hansen sets the tone for the compilation in “The Arriving Night,” where the blue of the fading sky and the red of the burning sun meet, albeit briefly, in glorious unity. While the imagery is stellar, the narrative prose that poems like “Trees” exhibit is just as meaningful in its philosophy: trees that endure all the world has to throw at them, converting tragedy into wisdom and maintaining their immense majesty for centuries. Perhaps where Hansen excels most is taking ordinary objects like “horse of the imagination,” “God’s jewelry store,” or rain, and aligning them with a purely human quality, such as rain being the cleaning or “removal of emotional debris.”
Where nature commands the attention in the first part of Hansen’s work, it is love that consumes the pages of the latter portions. The serene elements of the nature poems give way to the freshness of blossoming love and the pure exhilaration that follows. Many of the poems are undoubtedly an ode to the woman who the speaker wants to love “like God” and who is the reason the speaker feels free from the prison of the mind. Hansen’s work showers bountiful praises on the vivaciousness of the female form as a form of self-discovery, a path to finding one’s self in the midst of the world’s constant chaos. Overall, the poet’s delivery is raw and authentic, allowing the readers to settle in and find comfort in his depictions.
Moonlight in My Eyes
by James Richard Hansen
AuthorHouse
book review by Nicole Yurcaba
“The universe seemed to be mine
with nothing to stop me.”
In this poetry collection, readers discover poems displaying awe at the universe, the magical transformations offered by time, and the restorative power of nature. Poems like “Tests” convey the turmoil of life and the individual tenacity it takes to survive the tumults that come to define an individual. Other verses, such as “A Child’s Wonder,” remind readers to embrace their inner child and always view what the universe has to offer with amazement. “Reading” acts as a reminder about the power of books and literature in a person’s life, and it encourages readers to make the simple act of reading a daily part of their lives. As the collection continues, nature becomes an integral character in the poems that transports readers into places of “orange and scarlet adoration.”
This book is both philosophical and personal. Its poems offer readers quiet intersections where the personal world and the natural one meet and create a peaceful space. These spaces, in turn, offer deep moments of self-reflection and spiritual contemplation. Some of the poems also contain a romantic element, but they remain rooted in the natural world. These types of verses also encourage readers to develop and maintain supportive and insightful relationships with the loved ones in their lives. For those who are only beginning their poetry-reading journeys, these poems are accessible yet meaningful. For readers who long ago established a reading relationship with poetry, these poems offer a contemplative, prayer-like place to commune with nature and the self. Hansen’s poetry possesses a quiet beauty that delights and awes.
Skies and Chasms: Poems
by James Richard Hansen
AuthorHouse
book review by Nicole Yurcaba
“But I know you are waiting on Earth,
so I return home
and float in the heaven of your love.”
In this poetry collection, readers discover verses where nature and passion coincide. Poems such as “Freedom” remind them what a difficult journey the path to freedom is. Meanwhile, other poems such as “Corinne” remember a loved one, while “The Silence” encourages one to take the time to listen to the messages sent by the environments surrounding a person. In these poems, readers also discover a deep devotion to nature. For example, the poem “The Beach” encourages readers to “sink into experience” as they encounter the natural world. Similarly, “On a Starry Night” transports one into “an otherworldly glow” where “gossamer clouds stretch,” leaving both the reader and the poem’s speaker wanting more. Other poems like “Writing” take a different path and remind us how a simple act can become life-changing.
In crisp, clear, relatable language, the speaker in each selection offers the elements of everyday existence and observance. The pieces embrace short lines and brief lengths, which make the language even more real and accessible. Hansen’s offerings are sensitive and full of light, and the speaker in each is carefully attuned to the world around them. The poems also carry a spiritual element, one that leaves readers with quiet contemplations about this world and the next. The book’s section, “Love Poems for Kristen,” is a tender one, and it offers those looking for the perfect romantic sentiment the opportunity to find one. Readers who like their poetry steeped with natural imagery find that in this collection. This book is accessible to poetry lovers of all ages and backgrounds.
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