What I Read in October

Here are three books I read in October, that I wanted to share with you. I hope you enjoy this review and read some of these books too.

Earthborn by Dennis Carl

Earthborn is a modern poetry collection. The collection comments on environmental issues such as climate change, stewardship of the land, and questions about the human impact on the environment and how our existence in this environment impacts the earth. The poetry is shaped into long verses and free couplets of rhymes. The poetry is raw in that it is born of the earth itself. The poet uses poetry to awaken the reader to the environment that they live in and how it is essential to our fragile existence. The poems make you consider your place and actions in this landscape. How do I affect the earth, and why I am part of the earth in the Western mindset of being created from the dust of the earth? These themes repeat over again in the text and the poet’s concern for the welfare of the earth and the population that is removed from it—the concern about the neglect of the environment and lack of stewardship of the resources and, property.

Faithful and Virtuous Night by Louise Gluck

Louise Gluck passed away on October 13, 2023. She was a great poet and a wonderful storyteller. I first encountered her poetry while a freshman in college, and I have been reading her collection of works ever since. Each one of her collections tells a story. Gluck’s poetry is mystical, magical, and ethereal. It can be haunting too. Faithful and Virtuous Night is about people in the city at night. Each poem changes perspectives and has an almost ethereal feeling of floating through time without a clear connection to when this magical moment will end. The poet turns the night into a mystical experience of floating through the air and landing somewhere in this never-ending night.

The Bus by Paul Kirchner

The Bus is a French surrealist and Bande Dessinée comic. The comic follows the surrealist trip of a man taking the bus. The process of taking the bus to work, I presume. This trip leads into a world past his understanding, full of odd creatures, supernatural events, and dream-like states. He takes the bus through optical illusions, such as an invisible hole in the universe and through buildings and underground into oceans. He encounters people on the bus who turn into monsters and back into human forms. However, the man never seems bothered by the odd events on the bus. He merely continues his trip from one side to the other side. He may stare at the strange creatures that appear on the bus that he encounters without responding. He never tries to leave the surrealist world and continues through the odd levels of this supernatural world. So, if you think riding the bus is boring, think again.