I’ve got a multi-book review for you today, as I look at three poetry collections from poetess-authoress Jazalyn.
vViIrRuUsS: I Never Forget
Three robotic viruses are released from unknown forces and compete with each other exposing crimes, with humanity’s scale of existence oscillating between total destruction and reinventing recovery.
A REVELATION of the THOUGHTS.
An AWAKENING for the HIDDEN reality.
A MADNESS pandemic.
A WAR of ESPIONAGE.
Whose VIRUS is which?
Is it too late for reinstating?
The PANIC button pushed.
An attempt to erase the MEMORIES.
Can an EVIL virus SAVE the world?
A post-apocalyptic techno thriller poetic novel that emulates psychological reactions of a serious medical and technological global emergency and provides philosophical insights on the world’s best direction.
It’s unfair
To be guilty
When no one
Is innocent
Review: This is a collection of short, modern poetry framed around a sci-fi narrative about three viruses and their effect on humanity.
The poems are all short and simply written, with the poet making beautiful, symmetrical shapes with the words on the page. Less simple is the underlying story – in fact, if I hadn’t read the blurb which explains the premise, I would have struggled to even piece together that there is a coherent narrative underpinning the whole.
Some of the poems tell of viruses that can break minds and society, of capitalism and the powerful elite benefitting from the suffering of the masses, of conspiracy theories and suspicions. Other poems feel more personal, exploring mental health, loneliness and the longing for love which I find also pervades Jazalyn’s other poetry collections.
Overall, the effect is of drama, emotion and experimentation, which will resonate with some readers and baffle others (then, poetry always seems to me to be far more subjective than other forms of writing, because it depends greatly on whether the poet’s words touch something in your individual mind and soul that resonates to their words). I’m still not sure which of those categories I fall into!
BUY LINK (Amazon): vViIrRuUsS: I Never Forget
Rose: Future Heart
A socially underprivileged rose witnesses unpleasant events and behaviors that threaten Her inner peace and is determined to set life and love aside in order to find Her true, pure and moral parts of character.
30 petals of MOOD and STATUS.
A society full of INJUSTICES and UNFAIRNESS.
A ROLE She doesn’t want to play.
A RAGE. A RAVE.
A PAST that leads to HATE.
A RARE SOUL.
A wishful CHANGE of HEART.
She AROSE and She ROSE.
From IGNORANCE to STRENGTH.
A FUTURE that should lead to LOVE.
But can there be LOVE?
A dark fantasy magical realism poetic novel that endures urban social issues and inequality, and challenges self esteem, self help, self improvement, self development, healing.
I never knew how to have
I’ve learned to live without love
And I can’t change all of a sudden
Something’s got to happen
Review: This is another collection of Jazalyn’s poetry that tells an overarching story. The story here is of a ‘Rose’ who longs for love and yet fears it and cannot understand it in relation to herself. I felt the story shone more clearly through these poems, as the narrative voice constantly pushes and pulls herself apart over the contradictions she struggles with.
The poems are short, snipped and symmetrical and mostly unrhyming, and very easy to read. Each one explores the concept of love as something that both repels and attracts the narrator. She fears it is contaminated by societal pressures and that the only pure love is that you hold in yourself by staying single, or ‘self-partnered’. Still, she longs for an authentic, loving connection with another and her loneliness and pain ache through the pages.
As with the other books I have reviewed by this author, there are sometimes odd word choices that made me wonder whether they are errors or part of the overall experimental style she is playing with.
There is lots of depression, heartbreak and loneliness in this book, but some small sparks of hope and strength amid the despair that made me hopeful that the ‘Rose’ could continue to grow towards the light.
All poetry tends to be a matter of personal preference, and I found the theme and tone of this collection a little too dramatic and emotional for my own more reserved approach to love and life, but I am sure that there are many who will recognise the strong feelings and feel understood.
BUY LINK (Amazon): Rose: Future Heart
Hollow: A Love Like A Life
A ghost spirit of dark’s universe falls in love with a ghost spirit of light’s universe, and while They cannot meet, for They wander around separate realms and spacetimes, They live Their love through a secret and sacred interaction.
They are light years APART.
But there is INVISIBLE possession.
A precious NEED bridges the range.
A SECRET LANGUAGE.
A SACRED ENERGY.
A distant BOND is created.
An EVOLUTION of the SOULS.
Will they ever MEET for REAL?
And in what FORM?
A supernatural paranormal romance poetic novel of mystical and spiritual time travel, epitome of confessional metaphysical and existential love that is seen in space opera.
I prefer the dark
And often I cry
But is it so sad?
You prefer the light
And you smile
But are you happy?
Our eyes see
Different things
But our thoughts
Are aligned
And I’m wondering
Why I love you
When we can’t live
The same life
Review: This is the third of Jazalyn’s poetry-novels I have read and the poems are in the same experimental, word art style as the others.
The underlying story in this book, as per the author’s blurb, is one of two spirits – one dark, one light – who love each other from afar but can never connect because of their different natures. Personally – and all poetry is personal! – I read it as a story of an unrequited love beyond one’s reach, but more like Eminem’s ‘Stan’, where the narrative voice weaves a love story around a celebrity they haven’t met but feel they know (I kept imagining Taylor Swift as the object of affection and realised it is because some of her lyrics are quoted within the book!)
Whichever story you relate to, these are poems of a troubled, obsessive, one-sided and lonely love, which feels more rooted in thought and imagination than in reality. The narrator refers more than once to their fear that the feelings are all in their mind, or that their only hopes are ‘coded messages’ in the loved one’s looks and actions. It made for an achingly painful, wistful read.
In terms of style, Jazalyn’s poetry is very accessible and easy to read, using simple and direct language and short forms. However, her meanings require more active thought and emotional engagement to fully grasp, especially with the experimental storylines that run beneath them. As with her other books, I can appreciate the skill and creativity of her work, without fully connecting with it on an emotional level and I do think that this book will likely resonate with those who have felt similar heights of passion and depths of despair.
BUY LINK (Amazon): Hollow: A Love Like A Life
About the author:
With 150,000+ engagements and 20,000+ followers that grow more and more across 7 social media platforms, Jazalyn is among the most-promising newcomers authors-poets.
Her books have sold in 4 Continents and have been featured on best-seller category-based lists on Amazon US, Amazon UK and Amazon AU. Soon she will expand in every corner of the Earth.
Jazalyn attracts all cultures and traditions with an audience from all walks and stages of life as a consequence of the universal atmosphere that encircles her themes.
Her innovative and versatile writing style stemming from abstraction and absurdness captivates mystery and suspense with words swimming in surrealism and magical realism.
Her imaginative and inventive narration unites the philosophical with the psychological and the scientific elements of both fantasy and fiction that create and solve riddles and puzzles.
In what results as a contemporary genre of cinematic (epic) poetry in slice of life-vignette expression which provokes thinking and eyes new horizons.
Her latest books vViIrRuUsS, Rose, Hollow signify Jazalyn’s transition towards literary magnificence.
Find more from Jazalyn on the following links:
