Observations
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Review by javagirl79:
“Observations” is an apt title for this collection of poetry by Greg Schroeder. These are poems of the everyday: noticing the little things while taking a walk…a forgotten shed, the passing of time, and how that time passing changes your viewpoint; finding that your love of a person has changed only in the details observed, but still affecting you to the same degree (“Young Man/Old Man”). It is hope found in scents, in the air, and in flowers rising from urban neglect (“Asters Out of Ruin”). Hope found in remembering things are never all bad, it just depends what we focus on. Will you look at the broken-down and find something worthy? Will you remember the use an object once had? Schroeder speculates on aging and the world large and small around him. The poems are sometimes personal, but not so much as to prevent someone from relating. He expresses the joys and anxieties of being a parent (“Dance” and “Separation”), and also gives a vivid description of the pain of losing a loved one (“Loss”).
While I have never been a huge fan of haiku, Schroeder does a fine job with the ones sprinkled throughout the book. In the rest of the work, he stays true to rhyme scheme or free verse depending on which he has selected for each particular poem. In “Sunday Evening” he has a nice aabb rhyme scheme going, with one exception: “Color drains from the gardens and yard ends/A metaphor for the passing weekend.” I would have liked to see a different word instead of ends rhyming with end, but this is only a small quibble. Also, in my copy of the book, I noticed one poem printed twice (“Work’s End”). Perhaps a table of contents and page numeration would prevent this minor error in the future.
We are in an increasingly distracted world. Anything that encourages stopping, thinking, observing, not to nitpick but to enjoy, is a good thing. I read this book while on an Amtrak train from New York to Pennsylvania. I sat, head buried in the pages until it occurred to me to take a break and make my own observations of the world passing by outside the window. That I can read poems about heat waves when I am looking at dead trees outside, and still feel them vicariously, is a testament to Schroeder’s sense of description.
Observations is also available as a Kindle ebook on Amazon. Click here to jump to the Kindle Store. It is available in other ebook formats here on Smashwords.
“Observations” is an apt title for this collection of poetry by Greg Schroeder. These are poems of the everyday: noticing the little things while taking a walk…a forgotten shed, the passing of time, and how that time passing changes your viewpoint; finding that your love of a person has changed only in the details observed, but still affecting you to the same degree (“Young Man/Old Man”). It is hope found in scents, in the air, and in flowers rising from urban neglect (“Asters Out of Ruin”). Hope found in remembering things are never all bad, it just depends what we focus on. Will you look at the broken-down and find something worthy? Will you remember the use an object once had? Schroeder speculates on aging and the world large and small around him. The poems are sometimes personal, but not so much as to prevent someone from relating. He expresses the joys and anxieties of being a parent (“Dance” and “Separation”), and also gives a vivid description of the pain of losing a loved one (“Loss”).
While I have never been a huge fan of haiku, Schroeder does a fine job with the ones sprinkled throughout the book. In the rest of the work, he stays true to rhyme scheme or free verse depending on which he has selected for each particular poem. In “Sunday Evening” he has a nice aabb rhyme scheme going, with one exception: “Color drains from the gardens and yard ends/A metaphor for the passing weekend.” I would have liked to see a different word instead of ends rhyming with end, but this is only a small quibble. Also, in my copy of the book, I noticed one poem printed twice (“Work’s End”). Perhaps a table of contents and page numeration would prevent this minor error in the future.
We are in an increasingly distracted world. Anything that encourages stopping, thinking, observing, not to nitpick but to enjoy, is a good thing. I read this book while on an Amtrak train from New York to Pennsylvania. I sat, head buried in the pages until it occurred to me to take a break and make my own observations of the world passing by outside the window. That I can read poems about heat waves when I am looking at dead trees outside, and still feel them vicariously, is a testament to Schroeder’s sense of description.
Observations is also available as a Kindle ebook on Amazon. Click here to jump to the Kindle Store. It is available in other ebook formats here on Smashwords.