Spirit of Rebellion
POEMS
by
ALEXANDER SHAUMYAN
Now available as 4 1/4" by
7" paperback (113 pages). US $12 (includes shipping).
Review
of Spirit of Rebellion by
Laurel Johnson of Midwest Book Review
MBR
Bookwatch, November 2003
Spirit of Rebellion
Alexander Shaumyan
ashaumyan@hotmail.com for purchase
ISBN 1931413754 $10.00 paperback
Alexander Shaumyan's trademark is wry or self-effacing humor, heart
rending psalms of loneliness and love, and cynical commentaries on
modern times. Each of his four books is different, however, and Spirit
of Rebellion is exceptional for the addition of prose. The stream of
consciousness prose in "It was a Long and Lonely Night" was first rate.
But as always, it is his deeply felt poetry that shines.
"Just Once" expresses Shaumyan's deep loneliness:
Just once I want to feel free from this depression,
Just once.......
O to feel the sadness of the naked Moon,
to touch the needles of despair, to hug the stones of pain.
Tonight dress me in black velvet and hang me upon a
cross.
In "O God, I Could Never Create" he cries out for an Earth and a
humanity he longs to rescue:
But I can kiss the Earth, breathing Love into
this once infertile soil,
And I can make this paper into music,
"To a Poet Who Looks for Dinosaurs in His Toilet Bowl" mixes Shaumyan's
bizarre humor with the poet's hope:
.....that verbal acrobat playing
with images and words
that spread a magic veil
over the world of anguish,
loneliness and despair --
He rails hopelessly against the world's ugliness and sorrow in "Some
Thoughts on War and Human Ugliness":
I'm not in my right mind and
I cannot write poetry amidst it all --
as if something inside me has been
cut --
As always, he dreams of desire, love and hope, but tempers these
thoughts with harsh realism, as in "With Years":
With years your drive goes down
And your soul
Becomes accustomed to the daily grind --
With years you, too, become a local clown
Indifferent to everything and blind.
Alexander Shaumyan is a prolific poet who writes in a wide range of
styles on a multitude of subjects. His work is well worth contemplating.
Email me if you'd like to get a copy.
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