Walk with Wings Review

 Rating: 3/5



    Once upon a time about a week ago from writing this review there lived a bloke who went by the name Samuel Edme spending quality time during his fortnight-long stay in his hometown, The Big Apple, at a local Barnes n Noble shop in Brooklyn perusing through the new Pearls Before Swine treasury, Pearls Takes a Wrong Turn. All of sudden, he heard an announcement for a book reading/signing by an author, from the land where people regularly consume spotted dicks and faggots, he had never heard of hitherto known as Tene Edwards promoting her new poetry anthology Walk with Wings. A fairy charmed Samuel with an enticing spell called curiosity, sending him from the bottom floor where he was to the upper on a lift. It was the first time he met an author in person since he was six years old when his old teacher's parents came to the school to read excerpts from their anecdotal collection. Not to digress, the author was an amiable personality whose life story enraptured Sam in sheets of inspiration and intrigue as well as the heart-stopping amazement of meeting a writer face-to-face and asking questions about her work. As a token of friendliness and gratitude, he purchased her book, had it signed, and took a picture with her. While the experience was riveting, the book itself is a different story.

Note: The previous paragraph was based off a true story despite its facetious nature

     Before I review the prose in this collection, let me start off by complimenting Sarah Faber for her simple yet beauteously crafted artwork which went well with some of the metaphorical writing side-by-side. With that out of the way, my thoughts on the poems here are a tad mixed. On one hand, as snobby and slightly uppity as this might sound, many of the shorter poems which are two to four lines in length read like the type of motivational quotes you'd see in an office. While office motivational quotes aren't necessarily a bad thing, there is not the variety of material I expect from poetry either, and though I did find quite a few of the poems' recurring themes about self-empowerment and failed romance interesting in their figurative descriptions, at some points, they felt like they were repeating themselves. However, there was a fair amount of poetry that had a rhythmic feel to it which I also did enjoy. Here is one of my favorites:


Breast Cancer Scarred Survivor

'My Breasts are not the same',
said my mother
as she looked down at them and frowned.

How terrifying it must have been
to hear that such a deadly disease
had invited itself in,
trespassed on your breast
and vandalized it before it left.

'Find beauty in imperfection',
I answered.

This scar is not a punishment,
but an award for your strength and bravery.

Don't you dare allow it to torture you.
I don't want you to let it haunt you.
Cherish the way it sits on your skin
as a warrior mark, signifying survivor.

Let this scar be a reminder of your victory.



     Overall, Walk with Wings is a decent collection of poems worth looking at if you're in the mood for something inspirational to get a spurt of motivation from, and the author, Tene Edwards, is, as I've already stated in my jocular first paragraph, an excellent person whose free book reading/signing events are equally as engaging and fun to attend.