Monday, October 21, 2019

Alignment of Thoughts by Mihai Brinas (Goodreads Author). Personal experiences and social observations in seventy-four poems.



Jim Bennett
rated it it was amazing  · 
A star count is one person’s opinion. Clearly, I like this work a lot. More on the stars, counting, and my rating challenges later.
For a taste of Brinas’ voice, turn to Discoveries, which begins thus: “teachers transmit their knowledge /in public /to more people at a time /this is how you discover science” and continues to a pleasant surprise ending.

For social commentary and human observation, turn to The Same Road. For a love poem told in a metaphor, turn to The Nest.

For another observation of humans at large, turn to In the Wind, which includes this (in the middle) : “it turns the pages /with its breeze /as if reading /then full of poetry /the wind begins to recite....”

Spoiler alert: this is the entire poem Let Us Be: “let me be a bench in the park /where you can sit /and dream of me /let me be an armchair /to keep you in my arms /let me be myself later /let me hug you /and fulfill your dream”

For a powerful, deceptively simple poem, turn to A Bench. I cannot give you the force of this piece in a short quote. When you have the work in your hand, turn to this page.

For a strange and fascinating work that questions reality, turn to Guardian Angels.

For a personal poem written so simply you cannot believe its power, turn to Separation.

For those of you who like a bit of thought-provocation, turn to Image Cut Out from Another World.

Now for my star count boilerplate. My personal guidelines, when doing any review, are as follows: five stars means, roughly equal to best in genre. Rarely given. Four stars means, extremely good. Three stars means, definitely recommendable. I am a tough reviewer. I try hard to be consistent. Brinas is up against e.e.cummings, Stephen Stephen Crane, and Archibald 
MacLeish, where he stands as roughly equal.
 Five stars feels right on. 


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