Elementa
Faith Goble
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Buy *Elementa* by Faith Goble online

Elementa
Faith Goble
Loosey Goosey Press
Paperback
57 pages
November 2007
rated 5 of 5 possible stars

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Poetry is an essentially personal journey, and I am always thrilled to discover a poet of such depth and talent, the perfect marriage of language and perception that stimulates my imagination, drawing me into an experience charged with innovation and creativity. It is like meeting an old friend after years of separation, a Pandora’s Box of random memories, perhaps more accurately a reunion with the inimitable Scheherazade, with her infinite selection of unexpected delights.

Elementa is a small jewel, replete with the elegant phrasing of a poet who completely inhabits her world, keen observations with a compassionate point of view, flavored with thoughtful introspection and a delightful perspective on all around her.

The title poem, "Elementa", embraces the possible, exploring the physical aspects of her environment:

"I am the earth,
And from my mineral heart
Spring arteries of iron…

I am a stone… I am iron… I am a river… I am the sea… I am the mist… I am the wind…

I am a fire drunk on the wind-
Ardent beneath the burning stars,
I blaze golden, blue and orange-
Speaking in tongues,
Dancing alone."
(Elementa)
A wry sense of humor asserts itself throughout the collection, whether in rhyme or a witty aside. The more serious pieces indicate a depth of thought and process; but we can only survive the world if we refuse to be dominated by austerity:
"You tell me that I got a deal…

Women are just dying to be in my shoes…
Meanwhile I’m just dying.
----
So here, Prince Charming
I’m returning these old shoes-
These always did rub me the wrong way.
----
So I guess it’s time for you
To grab your shiny shoehorn
And tell all those wanting, wanton women

You’re back in business.
(The Return)
She takes to task the petty actions of the careless, a long memory for injustice and the great equalizer, time:
"You are still a philistine-
Boorish, nasty, foul and mean-
----
And think about those you have
Pushed around
While you were growing old:
Think how they’ll laugh when you’re
In the ground
And grow giddy while you grow cold."
(Bully Boy)
The language is lyrical, seductive, vivid images that spring to life with the infusion of the poet’s imagination:
"And the sea rushes in as if to smother him
In her thousand-armed embrace
And does not answer
But retreats
To keep her counsel in her saline heart,
Her secrets locked deep inside a body of green glass,
And each restless night she lies waiting for him
Whispering his name."
(To Walk by the Evening Sea)
I claim no expertise in this arena, rather an appreciation of authors who visualize the world from this particular lens, poems that seduce and intrigue, drawing me into a few minutes of reflection and introspection.

A virtual feast of language, a celebration of imagination, Elementa is a soul-satisfying collection, one poet’s vision, which she inhabits and shares so graciously in her work. I look forward to more such work from this gifted poet.

Click here for Luan Gaines' interview with Elementa author Faith Goble

Originally published on Curled Up With A Good Book at www.curledup.com. © Luan Gaines, 2008

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