Smorgasbord Book Reviews – Walk away silver heart: Poetry inspired by the Amy Lowell poem ‘Madonna of the Evening Flowers’ (A Love Poetry Trilogy Book 1) by Frank Prem

Delighted to review the latest release of poet Frank Prem  – Walk away silver heart: Poetry inspired by the Amy Lowell poem ‘Madonna of the Evening Flowers’ (A Love Poetry Trilogy Book 1)

About the collection

All day long I have been working
Now I am tired.
I call: “Where are you?”
But there is only the oak tree rustling in the wind . . .
from Madonna of the Evening Flowers

Drawing on the phrasing of the early 20th Century Amy Lowell poem Madonna of the Evening Flowers (above) Frank Prem has produced a collection of personal and interpersonal love poems written, as always, in the unique style that allows every reader to relate.

Prem’s interpretations breathe new life into contemporary love poetry and utilise Lowell’s original phrases to inspire a tender immediacy and warmth of response as in the eponymous poem:

silver heart
I look at you

see myself the way
I should have been

but something pure
was lost
along the way
from walk away (silver heart)

Walk Away Silver Heart is the first of three collections that together comprise A Love Poetry Trilogy, with each revisiting outstanding work by stellar poets of the past to produce vibrant new collections. The second collection, a kiss for the worthy, draws on Walt Whitman’s classic work Leaves of Grass, while the third, rescue and redemption, derives from T.S Eliot’s The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock.

This is a new kind of poetry that tells stories, draws pictures and elicits emotional responses from readers. Just as the best poetry should.

My review for the collection February 29th 2020

I am a fan of Frank Prem’s work and his ability to tell a story in a unique way, whether it is about growing up in a small town,  the savagery of wildfires that decimate communities and the environment around them, or the desolation of a mental asylum.

Walk away silver heart has the same flow and beauty as his other work, but it has a gentleness and pace that is very different.

It is not the love poetry of the very young, but has a maturity that comes when two people are in a long term relationship and look beyond that first rush of new love. The romance is in the small everyday details about actions and words that are missed when one of you is gone. Be it for a day, a month or forever. The passion is in the the small gestures of kindness and a touch of a hand. The love is in the memories of hardships and sorrows, shared and survived because of the bond two people have forged.

The concept of the trilogy is very interesting and whilst the original poem by Amy Lowell is stunning, it is a wonderful experience to see lines taken and elaborated upon to create a new poem that takes that thought further.

It is a collection to be savoured and not rushed through. And there were many lines that stood out for me as someone who has been married for forty years. For those who are just embarking on a relationship, it offers the promise of what is to come if you keep the magic alive.

I am sure that you will enjoy.

Read the reviews and buy the collection: Amazon US

And: Amazon UK

Also by Frank Prem

Read the reviews and buy the books: Amazon US

And Amazon UK: Amazon UK

Read more reviews and follow Frank on Goodreads: Goodreads

About Frank Prem

I’ve been a storytelling poet for about forty years. Longer in fact, as I remember the first poem I wrote while at secondary school was about 150 – 200 words long and was accepted in lieu of a 500 word essay. I think that may have been the start.

I love to read my work to a live audience, and have audio recorded some recent recordings and popped them on my author page. I have also done some studio- recorded work under the direction and accompaniment of my wife Leanne Murphy that can be listened to there. These poems are on mythological themes and the accompaniment by Leanne makes them a little bit extraordinary.

By profession, I am a psychiatric nurse and have worked across most facets of public psychiatry and the mental health/mental illness spectrum. My experiences and reflections on what I have seen and done are the subject of a forthcoming memoir – scheduled for late 2019, or perhaps more likely, 2020.

I’ve been published in magazines, zines and anthologies, in Australia and in a number of other countries, but for a long time I haven’t sought much publication. The whims of editors are a little too capricious and unknowable, so I have preferred to hone my craft and self-publish on my poetry blogs

Leanne and I reside in the beautiful township of Beechworth in the North-East of Victoria (Australia).

Connect to Frank

Website: Frank Prem
Website Audio: Frank Prem Audio
Seventeen Syllable Poetry: Seventeen Syllable Poetry WordPress
Blog: Frank Prem WordPress
Facebook: Frank Prem Author

Thank you for dropping in today and I hope you have enjoyed my review for Frank Prem’s latest collection.