06/06/05

Nudas’ collection of poems are largely inspirational in nature, address the theme of living-the-beautiful-life, include high-sung odes to mothers, fathers, teachers and lovers, and resemble Old Testament psalms (the celebratory ones, not the ones calling on God’s eternal vengeance). “To Be With You” stands out in its likeness to the moving, biblical pledges of Ruth to her mother-in-law Naomi. Otherwise, in terms of poetic imagery, heartbeats abound (I pictured valentine, not aortal) as do wings, stars, open doors, eyes, heaven, rays of light, angels, one flock of winsome songbirds and love in the abstract. Here’s a sample of the last in that list:

the connections we make
are unforeseen
the only visuals we see
lie in the acts of love we do
there are so few who really capture the love
but it exists
only to be recognized by the acts we do and
the connections we make

“Where Can You Find Tranquility?“ with its searching through wilderness, darkness and blinded dreams, unwinds like the words of a Stevie Nicks’ song (and happily stuck “Rhiannon” in my head); more commonly, these poems reminded me of Bryan Adams or Celine Dion. Which brings me to my point: these pieces don’t smack of poetry as much as they read like pop-lyrics, especially the sentimental kind.