Now for what Kim Fox thought about The World, My Prayer Mat, Kim is a qualified Holistic Therapist in practice for several years and qualifying in Reflexology in 2011.
'If you have ever experienced self-doubt, emotional turmoil (as most of us have) then Linda’s poetry will not tip toe you through it gently, it lands you in the epicentre of an emotional hurricane. Her words cut through benign reality with a sharp edge and razor like observation.
We are taken on a journey of stumbling, tumbling, phrases and words that echo reality with bare bones and soul exposed to its very core. Several of the lines from different verses stood out
“Desperation (but quietly, gently, politely framed with smiles). To me this is the “I’m fine” if you ask but not fine inside that many of us do.
“I am hoist and aloft, drifting madly, sails unfurled to the corner, where dust dances…
Beautiful!
Linda’s poem relating to Clapham Market had me there, smelling the burger smoke and observing those trapped in that moment of time.
Travelling on the roads through Linda’s journey is a rollercoaster with all range of emotions climbing to the highest peak and falling into the lowest void of despair.
In searching for the positives I found them, brief glimpses of affirmation that survival would hold out, that life could be good and is good, peaking and troughing gaining balance and perspective.
If all of the poems are based on Linda’s personal experience then bravo for having the creative where with all to write it down. If some are a reflexion of the trials and tribulations of others then Linda has an extraordinary way of relating to the moment and running it along with time.
This is a book of poetry that I will dip in and out of as each time I have read a poem I gained different insights; they seem to change with the reader’s mood.
The message, if any was intended that I got from these poems is that life can be good bad or indifferent and with acceptance, wisdom and peace it can also be fulfilling. The later poetry is calmer, more organised with lovely inspirational lines…
…A row of new mornings still lie unexplored
A lot of dusty pebbles, pearls they are now
There’s a world and my place is calling I love these.
As a conclusion to my review I have to be honest…I thought I had lost the book! After searching I asked my husband if he’d seen it. “Oh yes, it’s in my bedside drawer, good read those poems, thought provoking” This is from a man who doesn’t read poetry.
Me personally, the more I’ve read the more I enjoy, so much so it has rekindled the love I had for poetry and inspired me to write my own.
