A work of immense importance

Jan 21, 2018 Book Review…, Features / Columnists

Book: Contemplation Volumes 1 and 2
Poet: Deanne Heron
Critic: Dr Glenville Ashby

Award winning writer Deanne Heron does not disappoint with this two-tiered poetic masterpiece. Her naturalism is thorough and her existential work is searing. For sure, she has proven her salt as a cultural treasure.
Her nationalism rings true in ‘Jamaica Independence 1962’ and ‘Jamaica…No Problem’ where she relishes the nation’s heritage, its people, its independence and its mystifyingly rich argot. She recalls the excitement of yesteryear.
“Mi remember seh mi eye deh a mi gran maddah knee, when mu hear everybody a shout, and mi did join ina di excitement of two public holidays, but mi never know what it was about. Uncle Al lick him lip an’ white plaid skirt, Aunty Bliss cut har eye and seh di man dem hair cut an’ shave an’ smell sweet ina dem matching plaid shirt.”
And she well understands human suffering, the yearning for wholeness, the unquenched thirst for love and the assault on womanhood. “It’s part of our culture and race,” she comments bitingly.
“He’s got his wife or woman sitting at home who once thought he was the perfect catch,” she writes in The Cheat. “…he dips in here and dabbles there, leaching previous love and awaking negative emotions, damaging his relationships and his children by not showing them his fatherly devotion…”
In the wrenchingly revolting Domestic Abuse, Heron captures the psychic violence of this social scourge.
But this poet claims victory in Triumph Against All Odds. “I will not curl up under depression’s cloud and in self pity give in, No way will I let life’s cruel thorns wound me with a fatal blow and win…success against odds and never fail, as I continue the journey, blazing the trail.”
And later, she appeals to reason, to conscience – the God within – in Absent Fathers.
“They say you can never miss what you have never had. Not true, if you’ve never known the love and the care of a missing Dad. I have grieved my missing parent all of my life. He has been a huge empty void causing varying degrees of emotional strife…”
But she proves strongest as the consummate muse and philosopher writing of “Nature’s rhythmic waves [that] rise and fall in pre-programmed precise elegant dance.”
There is an avowed affinity to the energetic field in her every word.
“Your oceans healing calm, a friend or frenzied roaring deadly foe changing by the hour…Actions which even to the most learned and discerning has no reason of rhyme.
Time your faithful mate abuses, subdues, turning us ugly inside and out to resemble your crust, [a]nd ingest and re-absorb our empty husks, ashes to ashes and dust to dust.”
She expounds on the validity, elasticity and immortality of the soul in Spiritual, The Illusion of Death and Time.
“… cells die and renew. In this moment I’m connected with my inner being and glimpse spiritual things sensed but never seen…”
And she peers into the esoteric:
“Is [time] another mysterious invention of man’s imagination. Invisible, untouchable God, whose evidence of existence is all around. As it watches and touches us with its skeletal supernatural hand.”
Heron’s range is enviable. She delves into the sensibilities of man in many of her offerings, writing of lust, betrayal and pain.
“…I have learnt to breathe in and out empty endless tomorrows however tricky. For sword drawn in anger or sheathed in acceptance that is not my way…Until destiny unfurls fickle fingers loosening its grip after taking its due…”
Heron far-reaching epistemic thrusts will mesmerise the greatest of minds. Still, she remains unswerving in her confidence that a meed awaits the wise – a gift – no doubt, bestowed by the very Nature she explores.
Feedback: glenvilleashby@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter@glenvilleashby.
Contemplation Volumes 1 and 2
Available at www.pardnermoneystories.co.uk
Also available at Amazon
Publisher: New Generation Publishing
ASIN: B011AOJPTK
Ratings: Highly Recommended

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