by Gina McKnight, Release Date March 2015
Book Review by Omer Tarin
Renowned Poet/Writer & Research Scholar, Pakistan
It
was a great pleasure to receive here a lovely new book of poetry, containing a
fine selection of poems by the American poet, Gina McKnight. This slim volume,
entitled To the Heart is
published in March 2015, and contains a veritable feast of 42 poems. According
to the information provided on the book, To the Heart is the first volume in a projected series of
poetry books, hopefully to be brought out soon.
Gina
McKnight belongs to Ohio, USA, where she lives with her beloved horses and
family. She began to write at a very young age, and though she also writes
prose regularly, her particular muse excels in the art of poetry. As this
present volume testifies, a special talent is at work. As already stated, Gina,
apart from being a fine and highly talented poet, is also an avid equestrian,
who keeps horses and corresponds with fellow horse lovers all over the world, both
these special qualities, her poetic expression and equestrian passion, finding
ample scope and combination in a number of notable poems in this volume. Two
that come strongly to mind are ''Dock horses'' and ''Infinity'', which utilize equine
related imagery with considerable effect whilst also talking about larger issues
of life. For example, the dock horses are ''Dappled and grey/Their tails
swishing through time'' as they continue to hold on, to ''what's true''.
Similarly, in the poem ''Infinity'' several horse-riding/equitation terms
become larger metaphors for actions and deeds in everyday life, almost
idiomatic in their tone ''Off the bearing rein/My feet pivot to unseen things''
and ''Flying change of leads/Where circles become squares''.
Gina
writes over a considerable range of topics and emotions, and a number of poems
have special appeal for their powerful articulation of the emotions such as
love and passion. People live and they love, they find physical and spiritual
expression for their love/s in the 'melding', the coming together of lovers in
the loving embrace and the joyous union. Gina highlights these aspects very
beautifully, and I feel, very lyrically, and perhaps, these poems of love and
loving are the best in the volume. In a poem such as ''Evening's kiss'' the
chiming of a clock or bells as evening time descends, becomes something of an
''Angel's chorus'' when eyes meet and gaze into each other with a unique
quality. In ''Desire'' there is a semi ethereal resonance again, a delicate
sensual use of sound and image, as ''Your eyes rest in mine'' and then ''There's
no more room/No more space/No more wasting time'', for 'hurricanes' of desire
are blowing, through the window of the heart cleaning the cobwebs away and
bringing new joy and awakening. In ''Naive heart'' the poet, in an almost
mystical vein, talks of ''Dying each day/A thousand times'', and finds
uncertainty and a certain unresolved mystery in 'A heart misplaced/In dense
forest resides'. While in ''Reconnaissance'' a lover asks that love and
togetherness should not become a bond, or bondage, a 'possession', but should
remain a free moving, flowing sensibility, a mutual celebration of those
'unseen things' that ''bring substance/and reveal unspoiled love'.
In
some other poems in this collection, Gina goes on to objectify various thoughts
and feelings in a very terse and beautiful manner indeed, in my opinion delving
into the deepest wellsprings of her art an excellent example is the small but
very focused and 'gathered' poem, entitled ''Fate''...
''You
are the poem
I
dream of writing,
The
landscape
I
long to paint,
The
flashing star
I
reach for,
The
hand
that
holds my fate.''
Here, brevity and simplicity combine very effectively to create a highly charged
lyricism and harmony that is of the best creative order that reminds one of the
writings of Emily Dickinson or even Keat's sonnets. A spontaneous and
'natural' poetry, for was it not Keats who once said that: ''If poetry comes
not as naturally as leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all'', or words
to that effect? Here, indeed, this ideal is closely attained.
At
the start of the volume, Gina quotes the American poet Maya Angelou, who said
that: ''The idea is to write it [i.e poetry] so that people hear it and it
slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart'' in other words,
poetry is and probably should have a certain emotional appeal that reaches out
straight to listeners and readers, enters their hearts as it were. Probably,
the title of this book is also linked to this idea of linking/speaking 'to the
heart'. And this volume does this, quite frequently; it touches and speaks to
our hearts.
Apart
from the literary merits, the book itself is a small work of art, so
beautifully produced and printed and laid out; and I must give extra credit to
Gina McKnight for this, and I hope that many readers will appreciate her fine
efforts in bringing together beautiful written words and quality printing and
publishing, in a truly appreciable whole. I wish her and her new volume much
success and good wishes and look forward to her future endeavors, in time.
Thank you, Omer, for
your kind review...
From Ohio
USA, Gina began writing at an early age. Her poetry has appeared in
international anthologies as well as literary journals. To the Heart will intrigue, resonate and
inspire. Each poem will slide down the passageways and
straight to the heart.
To
purchase an autographed copy, send an email to - gmcknight11@gmail.com.
