POEMS THAT TELL A STORY

Musings of a Modern Romantic: Poetic Thoughts of Michael Peter Smith

Stories can be told in many different ways and through many different venues. Author Michael Peter Smith has chosen to allow readers to enter a world that he feels expresses his thoughts, hopes, desires and will open your mind and heart to, “The Musings of a Modern Romantic.” Life is a journey and each one of us creates the events, situations and stories that when completed would fill the pages of our own autobiographies if we recorded each and every event we encountered every day. Within the poems penned by our talented author individual stories are woven, a single tapestry is created and within it you can picture the many decades of his life filled with joy, sadness, frustration, hope and eventually love.

There are 13 individual sections within this book each one with poems that are unique to the section’s title and each one imparting something the reader can learn about Everyday Things, Lessons in Life, Friendship or Wishful Thinking as the first four sections are titled. Within these four sections the author included various poems to help readers understand the importance of decisions, dealing with adversity, a touching poem titled, “The Sweetest Words,” and a heart wrenching one titled, “Humility.”

“Spider,” is the first poem in this collection and the story tells how this spider created his webs, his safe haven and the entangled dragonfly that might symbolize a person getting snared into a relationship so taut, tangled and tightly woven that they never get out. “Decide,” is quite interesting as it allows readers to question what happens when life hands you tough times. Going to an exhausting job, tons of unpaid bills, losing sleep and hoping to find yourself in a better place can take its toll on anyone. Finding ways to move on with your life in order to land on your feet is one of the themes of this poem. The theme continues with, “Have You Ever,” which focuses on what many people endure: a bad place in your life, having to decide which bills to pay or whether to spend quality time with your child. Living on the street, finding your own way again and hoping to not have to sleep in your car because you are homeless. What happens when you lose it all and have to rebuild? Read the poem on pages 31-32 and put yourself in the shoes of the narrator in order to understand what is means to “Have Been There.” “The Sweetest Words,” will make you smile and its followed by Humility,” which is part of the Life Lessons Section.

Friendship is the next section and it begins with a poem titled, “Passion,” followed by “Be There.” The story told is about someone that cares for another person and the feelings of sadness, strife and loneliness when the relationship does not last. Someone is hurt, questions what they might have done differently or wrong and what it takes to move on. But, the poem that says it all is, “I’ll Be Here.”

The next section is titled, “Wishful Thinking,” and is followed by, “Enchantments,” which begins with a simple poem titled, “Love Is,” which beautifully defines the word in a simple, poetic and yet complex way on page 65. “Time Will Tell,” on pages 68-69 is followed by, “Trust Me.” The next section is quite telling and it is when the narrator has what you might call a revelation or as it is titled: Moments of Clarity,” where we finally see things the way they should be viewed. The poems take on a different focus and the narrators of each poem create stories of hope, knowing and thinking that a certain person is the one, not sorry about having the relationship and how to deal with the end result. Relationships take work and sometimes no matter how hard we try things do not always take on a Happily Ever After ending as they do in some movies. “Escape,” was one of my favorite poems as it related what happens when a person feels the need to hide in the shadows, take time away from things that cause them pain and live in world that allows them to reenter reality when ready.

“Missing You,” features 2 poems that are quite profound: “Forever,” and “So I Thought.” There are poems that focus on relationship issues, “Loving Her,” and It’s Quite Mutual.” “Forever Girl,” tells the story of how a man cannot wait to be with the one he loves and the loss within each other’s heart when things wishing that she would see herself though his eyes. Wishing that she could get into his head and understand what is in his mind. The last stanza defines : My forever girl!

There are so many outstanding stories told in this book that I cannot feature all of them but each one deserves recognition and merit. I will however, focus on two more then the reader needs to take the journey from start to finish and find the poems that touches your hear and enter the amazing world of this Modern Romantic Poet. “For Forever,” draws us in with a poem that expresses the narrator’s intense and strong feelings, the passion people share and a love that is timeless and intense. Describing in his mind how he hopes that this type of love will last forever and that when others see them they will be envied. This poem is truly filled with what the narrator relates in this beautifully described way a perfect romance. The final poem that I want to feature is titled, “ In Conclusion,” which focuses on the meaning of relationships, how they blossom or flow, the way each party views the other and the finality of it. Reflecting back and wondering how our feelings and hearts were battered or even bruised and even though your news “ are feeling raw,” you now that it “doesn’t need to be this way.” The memories cannot be taken away from you and the god times and great feelings remain within your heart. The final stanza defines it quite well as the author states: “And if not, then so be it. A lesson learned we keep forever. It’s how we all differentiate. The hurt from what we treasure.” Quite profound and compelling!
The last section I will leave to the reader as it is titled, “Sexy Implications,” and I think the reader will enjoy reading and hearing the stories themselves. The final poem “About the Author,” was quite clever in deed as it explains why he wrote this outstanding poems and why he wanted to share them with YOU! When you life it you can tell it and write it. These poems are a true expression of the life of talented poet and author Michael Peter Smith.

Fran Lewis: Reviewer