You are cordially invited to the intimate comforts of reflection through poetry and prose from poetess Brook Blander in her second lyrical collection entitled Personal. Personal. is reflection in a lounge therapy session.
Personal. is a collection of intimate thoughts and reflection shared through the pen of a poetess. Her memories, views and thoughts are documented in rhythm with the wonderful inclusion of journal entries which detail the inner chatter of a poet living to the beat of her own African drum under the direction of her ancestors. The collection opens with Brighter Days, a short, optimistic piece about days in heaven and the magic of the sun. Freedom in defined in Freedom Is and the love explained in So Necessary. The poem Selective Memory is about Alzheimer’s and the human instinct to cling during loss, and a story of remembrance. Point of View describes the onset of desperation and the declination of hope by lending a peek inside the worriment of a mother and wife in the present dry-mouth, empty-cupboard days. It reads “Her pockets were deep but filled with nothing to feed her babies.” Religion versus spirituality versus church is Religious Ramblings. The decision to break a curse, the choice to change is explained in Shuga Water and Broken Chains, a journal entry. There are stories of survival To Whom It May Concern, spirituality and faith Leaning Against The Promise, purpose Across Langtson and Audre, and the power of poetry The Therapist.
Personal. is a story of a girl child, turned woman, turned poet living in Truth and love, and free from the shackles of her past. “And then I woke up. And I was here. In Peace.”
Professional Reviews
Kat Williams
Poetry is such an intense personal thing that I honestly hate reviewing it, scared I might offend the poet and the reader. I feel that words have to catch you in the moment of acceptance, turning into love. Brook Blander removes that blockage for me by sharing of herself so much that I move past my usual likes and dislikes attempting to learn her in "Personal. Intimate Comforts of Reflection". I enjoyed to put it mildly, savoring pieces one at a time before totally falling in love with the added bonus of two short two excerpts from upcoming novels "The Secret of Sweet Tea" and "Where Ocean Meets Sky". I'm waiting in anticipation for those to come my way...
Renair Amin, Artist and Pmyner Founder
Personal. is not just a poetry book; it is an opening to the journey of a life. Â Many of the viewing eyes will find a part of themselves in this book. I got lost in reading her words but found myself remembering exactly from where I had come.
Susan A. Webley, Founder, Writing For Your Life
Brook Blander s Personal gives us a rich mixture of prose and commentary infused with flecks of her soul. From the powerfully self-affirming Survivor Child to the playful sassiness of The Derriere Chant to the raw emotion and symbolic release of Shuga Water and Broken Chains, Blander opens herself to the reader without shame, using her life experiences as a weapon to inform, instruct and most importantly, inspire. I look forward to future offerings from this passionate wordsmith.
Robin Ouzman Hislop's poetry is certainly in dialogue with some of the key architects of the 'poetics of indeterminacy' – both the Modernist strands represented by the likes of Beckett and Stein, and the postmodernist strands represented, initially,
“The woman or man who is a poet, or fiction writer, or playwright, or all of these, is engaged constantly in a jazz ballet of vocabularies, passions, genders, histories, perspectives, death, love, and life. The music of revelation announces itself to
