Imperfect Echoes:
Writing Truth and Justice with Capital Letters, lie and oppression with perfect Echoes:
Writing Truth and Justice with Capital Letters, lie and oppression with Small is self-Published in the fine tradition of poets everywhere. It holds two awards from USA Book News and Dan Poynter's Global Ebooks. The cover is by Richard Conway Jackson now serving his 26th year in the California penal system for receiving stolen property.
The author donates all profits from this book of poetry to Amnesty International.
Professional Reviews
Three Quick Blurbs Excerpted from Complete Reviews
Inspired by Nobel Prize winner Czeslaw Milosz’s poem “Incantation” that lauds the power of human reason over the reoccurring and seemingly insane political realities, Howard-Johnson holds out hope but is not persuaded by trends that seem worse now than they were in Milosz’s time. A student of Suzanne Lummis, UCLA poetry instructor and the Fresno School of Poetry fronted by US poet laureate Philip Levine, she touches on the isms of the world—racism, ageism, even what might be termed “wallism” but was once referred to as xenophobia. In her poem “Crying Walls,” she sounds a low warning reminiscent of Robert Frost: “Chains linked. Wire barbed,/ Krylon smeared. Feeble,/ useless, unholy billboards,/ anything but mending walls.”
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“Carolyn Howard-Johnson is articulate, gifted, insightful, iconoclastic, and a truly impressive literary talent. Imperfect Echoes: Writing Truth and Justice with Capital Letters, lie and oppression with Small is an inherently fascinating, thoughtful, and thought-provoking read that is very highly recommended for community and academic library Contemporary Poetry collections . . .”
~Jim Cox, Editor-In-Chief of Midwest Book Reviews
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“Such a beautiful collection. You really touched the peacenik in me.”
~ Darcia Helle, Quiet Fury Books blog
More than Political Rhetoric
Imperfect Echoes Reviewed by Marlan Warren
Narcissus Revisited
Narcissus knows her reflection
well. She forgets to peer
under burkas, in our jails,
in the beds of the abused,
deeper, deeper into the pond...
Carolyn Howard-Johnson’s “Imperfect Echoes: Writing Truth and Justice with Capital Letters, lie and oppression with Small” is just perfect. This Los Angeles award-winning poet lays out the landscape of her contemplative thoughts, feelings and reactions with such honesty and deceptive simplicity that they have the effect of offering a peek into her private journals. What puts this poetry on par with leaping tall buildings is the fact that each poem manages the feat of conveying personal and universal relevance at once.
Do not be scared off by the prospect of political rhetoric masquerading as literature; this is not one of those books. Although the book's subtitle may strike some as rather lofty, it is a quote from Czeslaw Milosz's poem, “Incantation,” in his anthology, “The Captive Mind,” which reflects Howard-Johnson's poetic themes. She has divided her prolific poems into a Prologue plus four sections: “Remembering What We Must”; “Nations: Tranquil Self-Destruction”; “Acceptance: Waiting for the Gift”; and “Future Stones of Distrust.”
Howard-Johnson deftly blends the "Truth and Justice" observations with the "Small" moments of "lie(s)" and "oppression" as they intersperse through her poet's journey. The poems in “Remembering What We Must” address the stark realities of war and global misery, which Howard-Johnson treats with her practiced light touch that floats like the proverbial butterfly and stings like an outraged bee.
In “Belgium's War Fields,” she compares the reasons for bygone wars to our present day confusion: “And now a war that takes from the mouths /and hearts of the stranded, the homeless. / How different from those who / marched with snares or flew flags / in a war when we knew / why we were there.”
In the “Nations: Tranquil Self-Destruction” section, “The Story of My Missed Connection in Minneola” brings to life a brief rest stop during a road trip, which seems rather amusing at first as the wife relieves her bladder and the husband declines the coffee with “Let's skip it. Coffee's / probably been stewing for days...” but hits an unexpected bump of overt bigotry when the roadside store owner confides in them (in between the screeches of his pet parrot) that he left Los Angeles to get away from the “ragheads.”
In the “Acceptance: Waiting for the Gift” section, “Relatives” takes on the ways in which "Small" minds can make a family dinner feel like a stint in Purgatory: “Perhaps you won't invite me back / if I mention that infamous / uncle. You know, the one who killed / three of his wives / but is candid / about who he is, / how many he's killed, / the methods he used / and never gets invited to dinner.
In the “Future Stones of Distrust” section, “Rosa Parks Memorialized” opens with “On the day our September losses / reached 2,000, a tribute / to Rosa...” and asks “If she were alive now.../ would her solo / be enough or do we need now a choir singing, / thousands screaming...?”
Imperfect Echoes allows readers to witness a poet's lifetime revisited in memory and with fresh wisdom. If the topics of oppression, prejudice and war seem to some "overdone," Howard-Johnson responds in her Prologue poem, “Apologies from a Magpie”:
Magpies are born to sing others' songs—
notes, imperfect echoes—
until the world begins to know
by heart.
Note: Proceeds from the sales of this book are donated to the non-profit human rights watchdog, Amnesty International.
About the Reviewer:
Marlan Warren is an L.A. journalist, novelist, playwright, screenwriter, blogger, and publicist with Roadmap Communications and Book Publicity by Marlan. She reviews for the Midwest Book Review, and her blogs include “Roadmap Girl’s Book Buzz” and “L.A. Now & Then.” Her press releases are published in Broadway World Book News and the BBC Record. She is the author of the novel, “Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged: All’s Not Fair in Love or War,” and the producer/writer of the acclaimed documentary, “Reunion.” Marlan is now in production for the documentary “What Did You Do in the War, Mama?: Kochiyama’s Crusaders,” based on her play “Bits of Paradise.”
From Wisconsin Bookwatch
Imperfect Echoes
Subtitle: Writing Truth and Justice with Capital Letters, Lie and Oppression with small
Author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson
Genre: Poetry
ISBN: 9781515232490
$9.95, PB,
148pp,
Purchase: http://bit.ly/ImperfectEchoes
Web site: http://HowToDoItFrugally.com/poetry_books.htm
Also available for Kindle and other e-readers.
Reviewed by Jim Cox for the February 2016 Issue of Wisconsin Bookwatch
Accepted for inclusion in Poets and Writers prestigious list of published poets, multi award-winning novelist and poet Carolyn Howard-Johnson is widely published in journals and anthologies. With the publication of "Imperfect Echoes: Writing Truth and Justice with Capital Letters, Lie and Oppression with Small" Carolyn has showcased the best of her free verse poetry to date. An exceptionally skilled wordsmith, her poetry will linger in the mind and memory long after the book itself has been finished and set back upon the shelf. Very highly recommended for community and academic library Contemporary American Poetry collections, it should be noted for personal reading lists that "Imperfect Echoes" is also available in a Kindle edition ($2.99).
'Utah's Song': Snow hums a quiet melody, rhythmic drifts,
polar staccato on cheeks and nose.
Quiet harmony here.
Solace in the pulse of canyon winds,
hush of gurgling creeks
sway of clouds moving high.
Symphony of silence
in thin mountain air.
Bars, staffs, and whole notes.
Tranquil self-destruction.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER
Jim Cox is Editor-in-Chief of Wisconsin Bookwatch. He has been a staple in the review industry for decades. . His business address is 278 Orchard Drive, Oregon, WI 53575 and his business e-mail is MWBOOKREVW@aol.com.
ABOUT THE POET
Accepted for inclusion in Poets & Writers prestigious list of published poets, multi award-winning novelist and poet Carolyn Howard-Johnson is widely published in journals and anthologies. She is the recipient of the California Legislature’s Woman of the Year in Arts and Entertainment Award, and her community’s Character and Ethics award for her work promoting tolerance with her writing. She was also named to Pasadena Weekly’s list “Fourteen San Gabriel Valley women who make life happen” and was given her community’s Diamond Award for Achievement in the Arts. One of her poems won the Franklin Christoph poetry prize. She was an instructor for UCLA Extension’s world-renown Writers’ Program for nearly a decade. Learn more about her and follow her Amazon Author page at http://bit.ly/CarolynsAmznProfile or at http://howtodoitfrugally.com/more_on_imperfect_echoes.
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The New Book Review is blogged by Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of the multi award-winning HowToDoItFrugally series of books for writers. It is a free service offered to those who want to encourage the reading of books they love. That includes authors who want to share their favorite reviews, reviewers who'd like to see their reviews get more exposure, and readers who want to shout out praise of books they've read. Please see submission guidelines on the left of this page. Reviews and essays are indexed by genre, reviewer names, and review sites. Writers will find the search engine handy for gleaning the names of small publishers. Find other writer-related blogs at Sharing with Writers and The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Edit
Inspirational poetry, written from the heart and soul. Verses that are well-suited for reading on a rainy day and that are guaranteed to bring a smile to your face.
