Keep the Change by Michele Heeney Todd Black Books
book review by J. Alpha
"Friends
In your house
You were a stranger
In mine I was a stranger too
So side by side
We came together
As strangers often do
Now, through time and space forever,
We make a tribe of two"
In Keep the Change, Michele Heeney's second collection of poetry and photos, she shares a depth of emotions and vision which will transform readers from strangers to friends.
Her alternating use of both an ethereal-like... you could fly on the wings of pure kindness, and sometimes searing second person narrative... if you want me to be your mother, please, Senor, save us both some pain, find yourself another lover creates a tone of immediacy and intimacy throughout the collection. And Heeney's effective use of second person narrative is particularly notable in her impassioned plea in her stirring poem titled, Night Flight... Stay my heart, this I implore. Oh must you go a flying? For, when you leave to muse once more, here must I stay a-dying.
And when Heeney's prose is not tightly focused on the universal nuances of her intimate emotions, she deftly offers readers a broader stroke of poetic wisdom that rings with the tone of universal truth as illustrated in this slice-of-life narrative from Two Thieves... Age steals youth away, death steals more, age dusts the windows, death shuts the door.
Heeney's black and white photos shared within this collection add an additional layer of intimacy and intrigue by the very nature of their stark emotional strength and structural simplicity.
Evoking a lifetime of her poetic themes which include heartbreaks, passion, whimsy, and keen observations—both exotic and familiar, Keep the Change is truly a compelling collection of poetry and photos infused with meaningful emotional exploration as well as verbal and visual precision sure to draw reader attention... through time and space forever.