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Poetry Confessions
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by:
ISBN:
0-7414-2926-8
©2006
Price:
$10.95
Book Size:
5.5'' x 8.5''
, 109 pages
Category/Subject:
POETRY / General
Poetry Confessions is my Heart, Soul, Pleasure, and Pain. About a forbidden Love, From which I will never be the same.
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Abstract:
Poetry Confessions is a new form of poetry that I call Creative Art Poetry Stories (CAPS). CAPS basically combines visual art and poetry to tell a story in a unique new way. This is my personal effort to bring forth a new form of poetry and to inspire other young poets, writers, and novelists that writing can be more then just boring text and words. Story telling can be visually creative and enjoyed by all. I personally like stories that have meaning and are straight to the point. So you will find a lot of my poems are in your face life stories. I truly thank you for supporting and helping me to promote my first book. I hope you enjoy my new form of poetry and are entertained by my fictional love story.
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Customer Reviews
 
Intense confessional poetry
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08/22/2007
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Reviewer:
E. Tara Scurry
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Review of Poetry Confessions by E. Tara Scurry (author of Storm of Roses: A Compilation of Poetry and Short Stories, iUniverse 2006).
John G. Briscoe, a self described “Young, Determined Entrepreneur” brings his own interpretation of poetic expression by creating a single story of love, infidelity, introspection, guilt, and forgiveness through roughly 60 pieces of poems and prose. However, this isn’t just a book of poetry that tells a single story. It’s a “new form or poetry” that Briscoe has dubbed “Creative Art Poetry Story (CAPS)” where art and poetry are used together to tell a specific story. In many instances, the strength of the poems were best shown when the words themselves were artistically displayed over the page such as ‘On Bended Knees’ where the words themselves were in the shape of a cross and ‘Happy’ where the words form a smiling face. I preferred those visuals instead of the often simple or cliché graphics that are a bit too literal in meaning to be visually stimulating. For example, ‘Dog In Me’ where a man gazed at himself in a mirror only to see a dogs head instead of his own and ‘Electronic Lease’ where there are two cellular phones attached by an animal leash.
Poetry Confessions promises to be a “chronological story of a couple’s ups and downs” and it stays true to this promise. I wondered though, why the couples depicted in the visual artwork throughout the book were different every few pages. Some couples looked like a Caucasian/white couple (I’m Sorry), other pages there appeared an African-American/Black couple (Nightmare). In some artwork the African-American/Black man had no hair (Good Morning) and in the next he had hair (Dance with me). There were at least seven separate individuals pictured visually, yet the written story focused on three couples (two married couples and the two married individuals who were involved in the affair). Particularly in the visual ‘Love is not Fair’ the men depicted look very different from the men depicted elsewhere. Due to the promised emphasis on visuals in addition to the poems, it would have served Poetry Confessions well to have used color instead of black and white graphics. Consistent, colorful visuals would have contributed nicely to the consistent storyline. If you can move past those details and enjoy the words his main character (and whose point of view the book is told from), Jonathan Love, pours over the page, you’ll have an interesting read. Mr. Love is unashamedly emotionally naked and exposes himself, his humanity, temptations, and spiritual faith to his audience. Poetry Confessions would make a nice gift to fans of romantic drama and intense, confessional poetry.
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Poetry Confessions
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09/13/2006
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Reviewer:
Evelyn Sears, Ph.D.
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Poetry Confessions, John Briscoe introduces his new art form, Creative Art Poetry Story (CAPS), which “combines visual art and poetry to tell a story in a unique new way” (p.1). Each poem is accompanied by complimentary artwork. And, occasionally, poems are graphically arranged so that they are both textual and visual works. “Gentleman’s Farewell Tease,” (p. 69) is an obvious example of one such graphic poem. In this collection, the poems combine to tell a fictional story of a doomed love affair.
The first thing a reader will notice is that Briscoe’s poems do not adhere to traditional forms. This is not necessarily bad. Many skilled poets have demonstrated that free verse is a flexible tool that is well suited for contemporary poetic expression. In Briscoe’s case, his irregular meters and stanzas, and his unique rhyme schemes, are sometimes clever and refreshing. Note, for example, this couplet:
Starting over takes a lot of compromising.
We both are good at prioritizing (p. 28).
The cadence created by this couplet’s irregular meter is distinctive and charming. And the unusual rhyming of the words “compromising” and “prioritizing” is creative. Passages such as this reveal that Briscoe is quite comfortable working with words and is able to write in a uniquely expressive manner.
Unfortunately, refreshing moments like these are sometimes offset by lapses into truly hackneyed passages, such as this one:
. . . falling in, and out, of love,
and asking forgiveness from the heavenly Father above (p.4).
The “love-above” rhyme is nauseatingly overused in religious poetry and song lyrics. That rhyme, plus the conjunction of the phrases “falling in, and out, of love” and “heavenly Father above,” struck me as an instance in which the author resorted to using well-known, well-worn phrases instead of creating unique ways to express his idea.
Briscoe’s greatest strength as a writer is that he explores and expresses a wide range of emotions. He writes, sometimes with brutal honesty, about euphoria, despair, anger, joy, loss, contrition and everything in between. Such writing takes tremendous courage and self-confidence.
Briscoe’s greatest weakness as a poet is that, apparently, he can’t live with rhyme and he can’t live without it. The English language lends itself readily to rhyme, which is why so many English-language poets employ it. While this amenability to rhyme is one of the English language’s greatest assets, it is also the source of an extraordinary amount of banal verse. Many English-language poets know, in their heads, that poetry doesn’t always have to rhyme. Nevertheless, it’s extremely difficult to escape the notion, in their hearts, that poetry ought to rhyme. At times, Briscoe seems to be stuck in this quandary. The result is that much of his rhyme appears to be accidental or incidental rather than intentional. It is not unusual for him to waiver between rhymed and unrhymed lines within the space of one poem, or even within a stanza. This inconsistency is disconcerting. If, in a particular poem, he intends to reject rhyme, then he should reject it throughout. If, in a particular poem, he intends to employ rhyme, then he should employ it with discipline and consistency throughout. In their current forms, many of the poems in this collection are passionate and expressive, but incoherent as poetry.
I admire Briscoe’s passion and his willingness to explore the complexities, frailties and imperfections of human relationships. He is an able writer and I look forward to seeing him develop his voice and style in the coming years. Poetry Confessions is more compelling as a story, however, than as a collection of poetry. If you are looking for good poetry, you won’t find very much of it in this book. If you enjoy delving into new story forms, however, you may find Poetry Confessions intriguing.
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Forbidden Love…
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10/16/2006
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Reviewer:
Cashana Seals of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers
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POETRY CONFESSION by John G. Briscoe is a fictional love story written in poetic prose. Briscoe calls his style of poetry CAPS, Creative Art Poetry Story, where he combines visual pictures and poetry to tell a story. This collection tells of a married man who falls in love with a married woman and the trials they face and the effects of their infidelity.
The poems are broken down into sections starting with the Introduction, Heart, Pleasure, Love, Drama, Soul, Pain and Confessions all told from the point of view of the other man. The compilations begins with a man name J-Luv who meets a woman who is in search of what is missing in her own marriage and as the poems continue the ups and downs of the relationship are revealed and in the end J-Luv’s pain is apparent. Several pieces were startling reminders of the story within the book. For example, “Mr. Don’t Want To Do Right” and “Unemployment Notice,” are odes to the husband that his services for his wife are no longer needed because he as the other man has taken over. “The Main Event” is a twelve round example of the actual issues of extramarital affairs. However, my favorite poem and the one that actually moved me to tears was “Emotionally Ill.” In this particular one he examines the feelings of losing a person you love and the loneliness that follows.
POETRY CONFESSIONS is a unique collection because it is poetry told in varying styles but is enhanced by pictures that tell the story of a man committing infidelity. Readers will find themselves enraptured by the tale and the method in which it is being told. The poetry rhymes at times and narrates at other times. This was a very refreshing compilation of poems, which engages reader’s emotions thoroughly.
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Poetry Confessions
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11/13/2006
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Reviewer:
OOSAOnlineBookClub.com Review Team
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OOSAOnlineBookClub.com (O.O.S.A. rating 4 stars)
John G. Briscoe wants to tell you a story, but in a different way. Poetry Confessions is a collection of poems that tell a story of love, lust, infidelity, pain and remorse. It's something of a smorgasbord of emotions as each poem chronicles a feeling and/or event. His poetry is short, to the point and easily digestible. Readers can complete this in one setting.
The author promises that this reading experience is unique and one of a kind. I found that to be the case. The concept of CAPS (Creative Art Poetry Story) is an interesting one and I applaud the author. However, while pictures can be effective, in this instance, I found them to be overdone and distracting. Just a few strategically placed pictures would have been sufficient. All in all, Poetry Confessions is an entertaining read.
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