Praise and Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars
Thoughtful poetry, January 12, 2011
By Lisa J Lickel
Just the subtitle made me curious to read this little stocking-stuffer
of a Christmas book of poetry. Ball and Howard-Johnson each contributed
thirteen poems of various lengths and attitudes.
I confess I'm not as much of a poetry fan as an arm's length
admirer, but I certainly picked up on the emotion in many of these
poems.
Carolyn's poems touch a glancing blow toward the commercialism of
the holiday. One in particular, Test of Faith, is an intriguing study on
societal quirks. I mean, how ironic is it that of all the characters of
the crèche scenes sold in stores, the infant Christ-child is the most
purloined?
Magdalena's poetry uses darker punchier words to describe the
harsher side of Christmas. In Infinity in Red, for instance, she asks
whether bad dreams count against you if St. Nick sees you when you're
sleeping and knows if you're naughty or nice.
These are poems to ponder, not necessarily read aloud with the
family on Christmas Eve. They encourage a thoughtful attitude about the
reality of American society.
The poems are free-form with a lyric visual grace.
Magdalena Ball is the owner of TheCompulsiveReader.com, and Carolyn
Howard-Johnson is the guru of all things Frugal at
HowToDoItFrugally.com.
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Reviewed by Joyce White
Award winning and happily espoused poets, Carolyn Howard-Johnson and
Magdalena Ball, have teamed up once again, to help celebrate their love
of the holidays with their new book of poetry, Blooming Red. Carolyn is
the Frugal Book Promoter and the Frugal Editor. You can find Maggie at
the popular Compulsive Reader.
Carolyn and Maggie work together virtually as Carolyn lives in
California and Maggie lives in Australia. It fascinates me how these two
poets team up and get the best out of each other. Each contributed 13
individual poems to this festive holiday collection of wit, family
charm, and myth. If you're wondering, they also collaborated on
Cherished Pulse, She Wore Emerald Then, and Imagining the Future in the
same way. All can be found at Amazon.com. Both of these women enjoy a
common interest in celebrating their sexuality and sensuality in poetry
during the holidays.
Carolyn experimented with abstract and form in her poetry, and some of her one-liners, are:
"Christmas is always a surprise package...no one wants to decorate a
tree pushing a star to the top of a 14-foot high vaulted ceiling..."
"Christmases all to soon pass us by as others laid claim to our progeny..."
"we have more time to think...to write...to remember while "all the
gremlins and ants...cleverly disappear until it is Christmas time
again..."
Carolyn turned to Google to help her find an anteater to adopt or
rent out for the holiday...Google's keyword elf gave [her] the best gift
of all Christmas gifts...the idea of making-dinner-reservations...out!
Carolyn writes "Natures best gifts and ours never silent...blessed by no human sound."
Reading these two award winners is like partaking in their
womanhood, tasting their femininity, and meeting their past head on.
Their poems cry out for their inner child who still wants Santa to come
visit them, you know...equality for all; and, I agree with Carolyn who
says "[in] Einstein's less than balanced world...we would be less than
dead."
Maggie writes of abundance and waste, of gluttonous dyspepsia...of
the inability to digest joy when others are hungry, what cannot be
created or destroyed...a huge database of Christmas past (found in the
attic)...random messy knowledge curse of recall becoming parcels he
could leap...with only one present leading him to greatness...with
anticipation turning to memory before weeping eyes...a house full of
dreams, visions and desires, each glass ball becoming a wish, taken from
the tree of life we decorate at Christmas...super connections pulsing,
through the anti-matter of your tired brain, wrought with nostalgia and
wrung through time's dryer...Once the paper's gone, it's just us again,
tired, spent, remembering life...one tap of the keyboard a newbie
springs forth...no sacrifices in blood here...this is a rational zone so
many years on fertile.
Make your holiday great and read your family Blooming Red. It is a
great holiday stuffer! Fun and Informal. Five Stars from me. Merry
Christmas to everyone!
Reviewed by Joyce White, Sculpting the Heart Book Reviews
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A Blooming Good Poetry Collection, October 31, 2010
by Margaret L Fieland
Looking for a holiday stocking stuffer? Want something to read aloud
at holiday dinners, something the whole family can enjoy? Then treat
yourself to is delightful collection by poetic collaborators Carolyn
Howard-Johnson and Magdalena Ball.This is a delightful little volume, 58
pages consisting of thirteen poems by each poet. I love reading poetry
aloud, and this volume is full of delight. A couple of favorites:
Christmas Magic Wrought by Google's Keyword Elves
by Carolyn Howard-Johnson.
which begins with
At the stroke of dawn on November first
gremlins tired from their Halloween
and ends with
That's when Google's
keyword elves gave me the gift of all
Christmas gifts. It's called
the make-dinner-reservations
-at-McCormick-and-Schmick
system of revenge.
.You're sure to recognize yourself in this holiday tale of woe. The
poor narrator is having a hard time at the holidays.. Ants attack her
turkey, the oven thermometers are on the fritz and the Kitchen Aid has
died just as its warranty runs out. And are more disasters to come. I
laughed but, like the narrator, we, too, have contemplated just chucking
the whole thing and going out to a restaurant.
And another, this one by Magdalena Ball - fond memories, Six Million Years Ago, from six million years ago, when we were kids.
Six million years ago
when we were just kids
upright in thin desert air
bi-pedaling in anticipation
of holiday seasons yet to come.
Time was different then.
and ends
the first law of thermodynamics
what cannot be created or destroyed
your burning
youthful
matter.
Do yourself a favor, and create some memories of your own by buying
this book and then sharing it with the whole family over the holidays.
