There’s a new poet in town, and his new book is making waves in the business community. Here, social commentator and writer Sharon Holt reviews his work.
“Poetry and beauty are always making peace. When you read something beautiful, you find coexistence; it breaks all walls down.” —Mahmoud Darwish
This quote about poetry is the simplest way for me to capture what I have read in Bursting our Bubbles by Shola Akinyemi.
My name is Sharon Holt, and I am an avid reader by choice, a social commentator by circumstance, and a writer by design.
I was a little hesitant reviewing another poetry book, just because many poetry books out there, have either been watered down completely, or are filled with literary innuendos that make poetry look like a complete joke.
However, I was captivated by the title – Bursting Our Bubbles (BOB). So, I started to think, what in the world would someone be thinking, that would make them write a book that seeks to burst our bubbles. So, I agreed it won’t be a bad idea to take a chance with this.
Since the synopsis already suggested that we should go slowly into the book, I looked for a park not too far from my house, and I sat with BOB, and I started to take it in slowly. As much as I do not want to sound all too excited here, I was really impressed firstly by a writer, whose writing had a genuine voice in it. It literally felt like someone was with me, and was talking to me. As I dived deep into the book, something in me kept nudging me to stop reading, at least, it is a reading style that has stayed with me for many years, but everything in me couldn’t close this book, because it is simply a masterpiece.
I finished it the first day; I went back to it the second day, and I read it twice in the day. By the third day, I started to imagine that more people need to see this book. So I rang up a few of my book club members at my local library, and I suggested the book as one of the books we should review, so we agreed we would read a few of the chapters together during our book club session the following Saturday.
I intentionally didn’t want to share my opinion about the book with them, so that I do not influence their views, but alas, the feedback from every one of them was about the same thing – awesome book.
We also voted for our best two poems which was “Do you know who I am”, and “You cannot deceive yourself”. Many of them said they liked the humorous way the first one was written, and it was difficult to know how it was going to end. For the second one, most of the participants were of the opinion that it was direct, and a simple truth, that we all need to keep telling ourselves every day.
After looking at this thoroughly, I think a critical feedback is also important so that there is a balance with this review.
I noticed that the author used a free verse poetry style, and maybe that was why he thought his genre was poetry. But I do think this may be “a hybrid genre”, I think this is a fusion of both the wisdom literature genre and the poetry genre. It is worth re-thinking about how he defines his work, especially since he has more books in the BOB series that would be released soon.
Secondly, I also think there is a need for the author to put in more effort in promoting his work. It is not easy for many new authors to get a grip with marketing their own work, but as soon as they find a way to work around it. It becomes a walk in the park.
In conclusion, I would say this is a must read for anyone who wants to consider anything that is deep, meaningful, meditative or contemplative.
I would also say that many of the anecdotes in the book have stuck with me; I would be recommending it to a few friends and associates, especially since it is now available for purchase on Amazon.