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- Shadows of the Soul
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- Author: Bev Walton-Porter
- Reviewer: Judith Woolcock Colombo
- Publisher: Scribe & Quill Books
- Format: Adult, Poetry, E-Book, 35 Pages, 2004, $2
- Rating: * * * * Quills
- www.scribequill.net/Shadows.html
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- We read authors such as William Faulkner, Toni Morrison and N. Scott Momaday and marvel at the brilliance of their prose, but we read John Milton, Robert Frost and Gwendolyn Brooks, and we are transported into a realm of vivid images and pulsating sound, which surrounds us and vibrates through us. Such is the power of poetry.
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- The collection of poems in Shadows of The Soul by Bev Walton-Porter is no less intense. It is both a testament to life and a triumph over it. In the prose introduction, Walton-Porter speaks of "the pain of living" and the use of words that help us deal with life's disappointments. She arms herself with words, and they become her shield against the world.
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- In "Like Skin," she speaks about being tough skinned and armed against words and looks that hurt: "...protects like armor. Deflecting words, spoken weapons and reflecting stares like a mirror reflecting my soul." The poems are filled with rich imagery. Some, like "No Woman's Land," are reminiscent of William Blake's work with a little Dante thrown in: "Along the pitted plains I walk -- air putrid and hostile to my senses. Above, vultures...men of misfortune...their diabolical countenances mocking me -- with the blackness of their misshapen wings...."
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- The style and language of Walton-Porter's poems have evolved to produce a well-rounded collection. The poems deal with a wide range of topics from PMS to loneliness, from love to betrayal and loss. These are all topics everyone can relate to. You can't live in the world without ever having experienced some if not all the emotions described in this collection. However, Shadows of The Soul is not meant to depress, but to illustrate the human spirit's triumph over the hurts inflected on it by an uncaring world.
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- All the poems are well written, and although there are some poems I enjoyed more than others, they are all worth rereading several times. This is a fine collection, and I recommend it.
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