Blooming Red: Christmas Poetry for the Rational by Carolyn Howard-Johnson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Deep and Thought-provoking Christmas Poetry
Author: Carolyn Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball
- Publisher: Compulsive Reader
- ASIN: B004GXB4AW
- Print Length: 56 pages
Blooming Red: Christmas Poetry for the Rational
"The reality of Christmas does not always resemble the images we see on commercial Christmas cards--or in our dreams."
This book is perhaps not what you might assume at first glance. Hopes are high at the holidays, and hope is referred to as:
“hope—a Mobius strip”
Right. This is another way to say hope springs eternal, Christmas style.
Holiday images and stories are full of baking, food, and meals that are Norman Rockwell perfect. So I did not expect a poem that stated dinner reservations might be a “McCormick-and-Schmick system of revenge.” I did not see that coming.
The nativity with the Holy family display is another holiday tradition. Did you realize the first in the Holy family to go missing . . . is baby Jesus? Oh, of course . . . that makes sense when you stop and ponder the writing. That poem made me think, as did all the others.Aging reflections of how Christmas events change as families do, children grow up, children go to college or move away is well described. We have experienced the excitement of young children to teens — then grown-ups only at the holidays. But the poem on this topic nails the emotions changes in holiday gatherings brings through the years.
This phrase caught my attention:
“icy tendrils of memory”
See why?
The reality of commercialism and plastic is described this way:
“after hours at the mall belief wears thin”
And is described in several poems, as well.
This book may help me make it through the holidays again this year!
Thank you for reading, Carolyn Wilhelm of the Wise Owl Factory Blog
This review was posted on Amazon and Goodreads by Carolyn Wilhelm.