Questions in the Balance, Author: Christopher W Boyden

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While reading Questions in the Balance by Christopher W. Boyden, it became abundantly clear why he has won so many awards and accolades for his published poetry. His work exemplifies classic poetry; bringing together the key elements of an articulate choice of words, wonderful imagery, and existentialism in philosophy and originality within structure; all masterfully put to mostly a sharp iambic pentameter foot. Moreover, Christopher W. Boyden transcends the age barrier; meaning his poems are as interesting to an adult as much as to a child. He shows respect for readers of all ages, as all can comprehend the revealed mature concepts while being entertained by the rhythm of the structural elements.

Questions in the Balance represents 73 original poems, indexed by subject, in Christopher W. Boyden's first published collection. He categorized his work by topics such as: Nature, love and romance, answers to the questions of thought, heaven, and our future as human beings. Although not laden with theological overtones, his beliefs are Christian and have references to God and the belief of creation and eternal life. Christopher W. Boyden candidly reveals his inner personal thoughts, often dedicating a poem to a deceased loved one such as his grandmother or his brother that died too early; in fact there is one poem written about his deceased dog going to "Dog heaven."

What I felt from his poetry was his gentlemanly respect for all of his readers, and his intrinsic enjoyment of writing poetry. Unlike some poets whose ego personifies arrogance by breaking all established rules of poetry, Christopher W. Boyden "plays within the rules" of established poetic prose, and thusly commands the respect for his ingenious wordsmithing of English. He enables his words to dance off the pages into the reader's mind. As I have learned some of his poems have been scored to music, one can see the beautiful imagery and chivalry he portrays as being within a class of writing analogous to masters who come to my mind such as Robert Frost, James Joyce or even Ogden Nash.

Questions in the Balance is an ideal gift book to give to anyone for any occasion, or to keep for your own home library so your friends and family can enjoy over and over. It is a book that can be picked up, read, and then placed down until a future time; as each poem is merely a page or two in length. After reading this book from cover to cover, I did something I don't often do ~ I read it all again. After all, with so many of my own memories being triggered by Christopher W. Boyden's lovely writing, how could I resist an encore performance of such cerebral stimulation?

Reviewed by: Gary R. Sorkin

Gary R. Sorkin is the Senior Editor for Pacific Book Review. Please visit Pacific Book Review at: http://www.pacificbookreview.com/

Poetic Biography of an American Baby Boomer - Author - Daniel B Royer - Book Review

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I will write this review, with the same type of view, of the book by Daniel B. Royer, one of life's poetic voyeurs. As he traverses the earth, from the day of his birth, he talks of the incidents, including losing his innocence. The stories of his life, witted sharp as a knife, are intriguing and enjoyable, as he becomes very lovable. A man with a dimension, of sensitivity and passion, he brings his readers along, to his life's verbose song. One of wisdom and pain, at times quite insane, but along the way readers learn sooner, he's quite the baby boomer.

This is the unique style of Daniel B. Royer's prose in his poetic auto-biographical collection of verses encompassing his book entitled Poetic Biography of an American Baby Boomer: Conover Drive. His style at times was very reminiscent of the famous Dr. Seuss, without of course the green eggs and ham and silly made-up words of the Doctor's imaginary world. Daniel B. Royer's world is not imaginary at all, but descriptively recalled to the minutia of detail, then put to the beat and pentameter of creative poetry with his signature style. A very pleasant and relaxing pace of interesting antidotes chronologically orchestrated to play out in a time line of his life's encounters, his book brings the reader to have an inner smile while reading due to his humor laced throughout his sentences.

Rather a terse book, he recounts about 70 incidents comprising self-actualizing impact to his character development. Each verse is a page or less in duration. I found this book to be very enjoyable, light and humorous. Daniel B. Royer is a wordsmith extraordinaire, and his work is a product of the Mid-Western American culture in which he was raised during the time of the post war era of the Baby Boomer generation.

The cover of his book shows a personal photograph of a modest house with melting snow outside, however with the appearance of being the home to a family of normal values due to the groomed hedges and layered window coverings. It is most likely the home in which Daniel was raised, in the small town of Bay Village, Ohio. As the Poetic Biography of an American Baby Boomer is a collection of individual verses, it can be picked up, read, put down, and started again without losing any impact, therefore a great book for temporary time opportunities. This book would be a welcome table top adornment to a waiting room, or as a gift. I would hope Mr. Royer continues his articulation of his life in subsequent collections of verses.

Reviewed by: Gary R. Sorkin

Gary R. Sorkin is the Senior Editor for Pacific Book Review. Please visit Pacific Book Review at:
http://www.pacificbookreview.com/