Archive for March 13th, 2010

Review: This is the Red Door

Saturday, March 13th, 2010

This Is The Red Door This Is The Red Door by James R. Whitley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars
James R. Whitley combines richly-textured language with thoughtful introspection for a lyrical journey through heartbreak and loss into acceptance and healing. His poem “Chai Tea, Raw Sugar” once appeared in my magazine, WildViolet.net, and it embodies the center section, about a troubled relationship. Ultimately, the poems progress into hymns of hope, as in these lines from the last stanza of “Cantata No. 21”: “And I’m thinking about the coming dawn and how, / despite the nagging hangover I’m sure to have, / that brilliance will flood every dim corner of / my room with its sweetness, like an auspicious / heralding, like a merciful golden revision.”

View all my reviews >>