"The darkness is a journeying friend, awaiting your embrace, for truth is in the matter, the meaning of your own existence..."
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In the Light of Darkness by Daniel J. Crowley Trafford Publishing
book review by Caroline Blaha-Black
The author Daniel J. Crowley explores everyday themes in his poetry collection, such as the opposites of light and darkness, journey of the soul, and love gained and lost. Crowley's poems flow off the page effortlessly, and his verse is free, light, and a pleasure to read. He explores the many facets of love with its lightness and darkness that it sometimes brings and translates that feeling successfully into his poems. Some of the best ones in the book include "Love is Like a Cigarette," where he masterfully likens a cigarette to love (burning bright on the outside, a soothing pleasure slowly killing within). In the poem called "Smiling, She Gestures Like a Rose," he explores the lover's gesture as she beckons him to come over, and in "Walking Through the Streets," he talks about the pains and joys of the journey endured by the soul and the importance of knowing one's self.
The book's cover is crisp and glossy, with an illustration of a face drawn in black and white, which nods to the themes of light and dark so prevalent in the book. However, the image is somewhat strong for a book of poems about love, provoking a more hard-edged poetry collection. The back cover goes more with the tone of the book, featuring one of Crowley’s poems, which spills out over the page under a photograph of a full moon. All in all, this is a great book of poems about the complexities of love and the feelings it brings, and a great read for students and lovers of poetry in general.