G803 Shining from a different firmanent; poems by Beatriz Fitzgerald Fernandez

General Information:

Name of Book: Shining from a different firmanent; poems

ISBN: 978-1-62229-856-3

Publisher: Finishing Line Kentucky

Year it was published: 2015

Summary:

Spanning cultures from ancient Egypt to the American West, and time, from medieval France to modern day Florida, this collection attempts to capture the voices of women, fictional, legendary and historical, some famous, some infamous, who lived, loved and died with an undefeated spirit, and who were loved, defamed and persecuted in their turn. We know very little about their personal lives and in some cases what we know of them is mostly a reflection of the times in which they lived or the men they loved. These iconic women who dared to be who they were and thus live forever in our imaginations inspired this collection.

Author: Beatriz Fitzgerald Fernandez

About the Author:

Beatriz F Fernandez is a university reference librarian in Florida. She grew up in Puerto Rico, the daughter of a Peruvian mother and Puerto Rican father. She has read her poetry on South Florida NPR New Station, WLRN, and she was a featured writer on the Latina Book Club Blog. She was the grand prize winner of Writers' Digest 2nd Annual Poetry Award. Her poems have appeared in Falling Start Magazine (2014 Pushcart Prize nomination), Verse Wisconsin, Spark: A creative Anthology Nrother Liberties Review, Label Me Latina/o and Writer's Digest. www.beasbooks.blogspot.com

Personal Opinion:

Quick Note: This is the first time I'm reviewing poetry. Like the Dead Poet's Society with Robin Williams (G-d rest his soul,) I imagine that my experience with poetry is more likely being told what and how to feel rather than just allowing us to feel what is natural to feel, thus just like for many students who get out of school and don't pick up literature to expand their minds. Unfortunately, the idea of poetry is something similar for me: poetry equals school where I don't understand it and where I feel dumb for not understanding it. I am happy and glad that this time I gave poetry a chance because it proved that with the right background I can enjoy poetry and can understand why its been such a popular genre for eons. (I think it also helped that I was given notes explaining the background of the characters and was also allowed to make up my own mind on what I felt when reading it.) I enjoyed all the poems the author wrote and was happy to meet a lot of formidable women from Hypatia to a woman she met on her way home.

This was given to me by the author for an honest review

4 out of 5
(0: Stay away unless a masochist 1: Good for insomnia 2: Horrible but readable; 3: Readable and quickly forgettable, 4: Good, enjoyable 5: Buy it, keep it and never let it go.)