Poet, Joso Skarica sent me a copy of his most recent collection, From Within. I’ve also seen it on the KDP free list at least once and those of you in US & GB can win a copy here.
Description:
This collection of poems was never meant to be read by anyone else but yours truly; let alone be published in a book format. They were created more than a decade ago by a young man who utilized poetry as a form of unconscious auto-psychotherapy. I have decided to unveil these poems as a testament of courage, boldness and brutal honesty that I was capable of at that particular time in my life. I am not sure whether that is the case today.
Review:
I find reviewing poetry really difficult. It’s often so personal that it can be hard to find the art in the emotional onslaught. But Joso asked me to give this collection a read, so I did. These are raw, often dark poems. But they have a good rhythm or meter and present their imagery in imaginative ways. I could really relate to some of them, but some went to dark places I’ve never visited. These were foreign landscapes that left me feeling a lot like a voyeur. Junkies, whores, rent boys, God, and sodomy (sometimes in the same poem) were not infrequent characters. Another Sun IS Rising was my favourite, For The Real People made me cringe, Jimmy Was a Teenage Hustler made me sad, Doors made me laugh, and Before the Rain left me breathless. But familiar or not, every single one of these poems made me FEEL, and in the grand scheme of poetry, isn’t that the point?
As you can see it is just a simple bi-fold pamphlet. It reminds me of a church program, or maybe someone’s personal moleskine as much as an actual book. But, I believe this is purposeful. The preface states quite clearly that Dimitriadis wanted it self-published to make a statement about art and the publishing industry, which would be pointless if it wasn’t easily identifiable as not meant the mass market. I like this aggressively indie mentality, though I do feel it is a little compromised by the fact that it is being translated into Greek (and presumably published) by a Cypriot publisher. Why not make the same statement there?
