Published: November 20, 2018

Big City Press

Genre: Poetry

Pages: 123

KKECReads Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I received a copy of this book for free, and I leave my review voluntarily.

MIKE BOND is the author of nearly a dozen best-selling novels, a war and human rights journalist, ecologist, international energy expert and award-winning poet. He has covered wars, revolutions, terrorism, military dictatorships and death squads in the Middle East, Latin America, Asia and Africa, and environmental issues including elephant poaching, habitat loss, wilderness survival, whales, wolves and many other endangered species. His novels place the reader in intense experiences in the world’s most perilous places, in dangerous liaisons, political and corporate conspiracies, wars and revolutions, making “readers sweat with [their] relentless pace” (Kirkus) “in that fatalistic margin where life and death are one and the existential reality leaves one caring only to survive.” (Sunday Oregonian). He has climbed mountains on every continent and trekked more than 50,000 miles in the Himalayas, Mongolia, Russia, Europe, New Zealand, North and South America, and Africa.

“But the goal has always been the same: say the truth and make it memorable.”

What I loved about this poetry collection is the simplicity of some poems and the complexity of others. The emotions captured, the scenery described, and the humanity within these words were beautiful.

I found the stanzas enlightening and the words bold. This collection made me want to go back to South Dakota and be in the vast beauty of such a remarkable creation.

I felt these words in my soul, and I loved deciphering their meaning. Mike captured poetry beautifully, and he delivered it so that no two people would read the same line the same way.

These poems are open to interpretation. They are meant to create conversation and understanding and bring enlightenment. I found Bond’s appreciation for the process robust and his ability to capture a moment timeless.