BOOK TITLE: A Poetic Rhapsody of the Soul
AUTHOR OF BOOK: Ron Roman
GENRE: Poetry
ISBN: 978-1-962065-93-1
PAGE COUNT: 101
AMAZON or FAVE LINK to BUY BOOK: https://books2read.com/u/
REVIEWER: Stephen C. Pollock for Windtree Press
- Reviewed in the United States on September 10, 2026FULL REVIEW:"Throughout this engaging and spirited poetry collection, English professor and Army veteran Ron Roman treats readers to a potpourri of poetic styles, ranging from free verse to rhyming couplets to haiku. His longer pieces take the form of vignettes (real or imagined), and in an entertaining departure from much of contemporary poetry, many of these anecdotes are driven by dialogue. Roman's exploration of the meaning and purpose of our shared humanity -- his nourishment for the "soul" of the book's title -- is alternately heartfelt, humorous, satirical, and philosophical. Taken as a whole, the poems in A Poetic Rhapsody of the Soul recapitulate the qualities of a musical rhapsody: separate yet integrated episodes, surprising contrasts in mood and tone, and an unmistakable sense of artful improvisation."
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Associate Professor of English and Humanities, Ron Roman taught with the University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC-Asia) until retirement in 2020. He has written extensive travel, academic, and political articles for regional, national, and international publications. He studied writing (both fiction and creative) for his third graduate degree (Humanities) from Wesleyan University/Connecticut/USA. Currently he resides in South Korea where he works with the US military assisting retirees and dependents. He publishes in miscellaneous genres, including in poetry publications as far away as England where he has been the recipient of the UK’s THE POET magazine international POET OF THE MONTH award (May 2020) and is a critically acclaimed novelist: Of Ashes and Dust (Histria Books/2022), Finalist for the 2023 Chanticleer International Book Award (CIBA) Global Suspense Thriller.
ABOUT THE REVIEWER:
Stephen C. Pollock is a poet, essayist, scholar, inventor, and author of the poetry collection Exits. The twenty-two poems in Exits were written and edited over a period of twenty-two years. Designing and formatting the book required an additional two years. Steve began scribbling poems on shirt cardboard at age nine. All of those early poems rhymed. (Yertle the Turtle by Dr. Seuss was a huge influence!)Trained as a physician, eye surgeon, and neuro-ophthalmologist, Steve was recruited to Duke University as Chief of Neuro-Ophthalmology in 1987. He ultimately achieved a rank of Associate Professor with tenure and has published 30 peer-reviewed papers and book chapters in the medical literature.As a result of his lifelong penchant for designing novel devices, Steve holds U.S. Patent 4,477,158, Lens System for Variable Refraction. He also designed an instrument used to biopsy inaccessible tumors in the brain and behind the eye.The gratification Steve derives from writing springs from a variety of sources: fascination with language; the whimsy of wordplay; the intimate marriage of sound and sense; the thrill of creating something utterly new; and awe at the infinite ways in which words, well chosen, can capture and intensify human experience.
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