Poems from the Heart By Alana D.O. Babb

fiction

by Sweta | on June 20th, 2011 | 0 comments

When I started reading ‘Poems from the Heart’, being a lover of poetry I wanted to fall in love with the words. Few in the beginning looked quite promising but as I progressed I realized the writer was a novice and had left numerous loose ends in her poetry. Alana D.O. Babb has potential to be a good writer and she has done some very good writing too but she needs to learn and develop more skills of the trade.

‘An Open Book’ is one of the finest verses in this book. It’s a reflection of a pure soul. Some beautiful lines that keep soothing the readers are “You’re writing a story, a chapter each day, by the deeds that you do, by the words that you say.” ‘I’ve found a Friend in you’ has an honest glimpse of friendship in the lines “When I was at a jam and you were way ahead, you turned around and helped me instead.”

The very third poem ‘Mother Is’ is slack, I guess Kids are the target audience of this verse. Similarly ‘Climate Change Is’, ‘Save Our Seas and You Can’ are very childish but do have an earnest appeal. Never the less I moved on in search of some good ones and found a few in the pages that fluttered by. Here I would concentrate more on reviewing the ones that pleased me and the few notes that I have picked up through the reading process. In the poem ‘What Is Beauty’ the ending is not as effective as the buildup. The most creative line in there is “Beauty is watching the sunset, Clouds formed in the shape of a pet.”

There are some good poems that I would like to mention apart with my favorite stanzas that caught the eyes.

‘Jesus’ Name’- “Jesus Christ, a wonderful name, Eternal, unchanging, always the same. He’s the beginning and he’s the end, He’s my savior, my Lord and my friend.”

‘A Love So Powerful’- “Your departure brings death, I write, I wish you could stay with me for life.”

A very strong outcry of a person wronged in love can be found in the poem ‘While You Were’ –“Because while you were loving her I was still in love with you.”

‘Woman of Many Traits’- “She is always there to lend an ear, even when others don’t care, You can turn to her when you need a friend and be sure she’ll be with you till the end.”

The poetry ‘Love Is’ beautifully structured & emoted, reflects some real life & some hypothetical experiences.

‘What Does Love Look Like?’ beautifully emanates the feelings of people in love- “It has hands to lift another’s load, It has arms outstretched for you to hold. It has feet to go to the extra mile; it has a face to give a welcoming smile”.

‘I Asked God’ has lovely use of words and a much matured thought process running through the verses. ‘This Ring’ has rhyming resonance in the couplets which display the zeal & passion in the writer for poetry.

In ‘I Am Here for You’ I love the following stanza the most because of its simplicity and the strength of emotions. “In this time of sorrow and pain, you don’t have to cry again. Just lean on me when you feel to cry, I will not ask you why.”

As soon as I felt that the poems had potential and were getting better with the progressive pages there came a shocker. Suddenly there was a piece in front of me which made me feel as if I was falling into a dismal abyss. This poem ‘Water the Basis of Our Lives’ seems to have been created for kids. The poems are not weak, just that the poems have not been sorted out and are a mixture of different genres which give a confusing look to the book. It seems the poems have been picked up from a collection of Alana’s writings from adolescence till now and published all together with no target audience in mind. ‘Save Tobacco’ is another one from High School stuff. One message I would convey that writing anything does not and should not mean just filling up pages for the sake of it even though if it’s a self-published initiative.

‘I’ll Carry You Always in My Heart’ has a good array and hue of emotions covered through the couplets. The repeating stanza has been deftly used to connect one piece to the other.

‘Changes’ is a yet another childish portrayal and needs a better selection of words and styling.

‘One Chance’ is a lovely ending for this Self-Published poetry book- “One mistake is all it takes to end up with heartache, only one chance you really get to avoid a life full of regrets.” Some stanzas reflect out of the retrospection- “Only one chance at forgiveness, only one life to be true witness”

Overall the poetess is better with couplets than prose. I wish Alana the very best in her poetic journey. Hoping she strives towards growth and quality and sharpens hers skills with every verse she writes.

Reviewed on request by Sweta Lal

Sweta (7 Posts)

Sweta is a Freelance Writer/ Editor, she also advises organizations as a Social Media Strategist – Advisory, Consultation, Analysis, Strategical Counselling, Creative Content Development for Media & Community Marketing.

Sweta is passionately into this profession as a Freelancer. Her works include poetry, fiction, non-fiction short stories and children’s stories. Sweta took special interest in Literature & Arts right from her school days.
She is using this Social Media platform to spread the love of reading and creativity.