Wednesday, August 02, 2006

REVIEW: 'Questions' by Mihad Ali

TITLE: Questions
AUTHOR: Mihad Ali
PRICE: $32.90
GENRE: Poetry
ISBN: 1-4116-7551-7
PUBLISHER: Lulu
POINT OF SALE: : http://www.lulu.com/content/216068

This collection of poetry is intense, sincere and personal. The theme of 'questions' will echo the experiences of many people trying to find their way, and their place, in the world.

The poetry itself was not written, formatted or edited in a way that gave me a great deal of pleasure. Uniformly centred and in italics, and rife with awkward rhymes, errors in spelling, inconsistent punctuation and sprinklings of txt langauge. Phrases such as "Will I get 2 c tomorrow?" "It is the outspoken, who is the most troubled" and "Their only just starting to grow" jarred me one almost every page as did intrusive annotations such as "…..Continued from previous page" and "* This poem has been edited from it’s original state."

However I must accept the poet's own perspective, as stated near the end of the volume. "You don't have to accept what I am saying / all you have to do is acknowledge / that there is another opinion in the mix.... Appearances don’t mean a thing ... Not everything has to match ..."

This is a raw record of one person's ongoing journey to being at peace with themselves--full of unapologetic affirmation of self--and a few searching questions. The dispassionate poetry officianado, however, would do well to avoid 'Questions'.

RATING 1/10

SEE ALSO:
10/10: Lulu

AVERAGE: 5.5/10

REVIEWED BY: Ed Kane

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