A Taste of Chicago that Ignites the Spirit

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Shadows and Silhouettes

Received 5 out of 5 stars

Review:

Sharday Cage definitely dishes out The Taste of Chicago in her new poetic work called Shadows and Silhouettes. This Chicago resident delivers flavorful pieces that allow the reader to digest every bit of what makes her very passionate and purposeful about her craft. A craft that has truly been perfected to the point that readers can close their eyes and feel her words create poetic imprints on their spirit. These Imprints are in the form of love, challenging relationships, and delightful misfortunes. Her playful use of the word “Beautiful cacophony,” shows her skill in utilizing oxymora to get her point across.

I truly enjoyed many of Sharday’s poems and felt as though I was experiencing her life firsthand. When reading, “Graffiti Mouth,” I thought of something so corrupt or disfigured that no beauty could come from it. It brought to mind people who gossip about other people and graffiti (Slander) their name on the ears of willing cohorts. The poem was upfront, honest, and true to some societal norms. My favorite poem was “Lover’s Cup.” I felt as though I was in Love’s Utopia, waiting to release the most powerful energy in my body; love. I too wanted to “Lasso the moon or pluck a star.” I wanted to sip from my “lover’s cup” and get drunk from my emotional connection to him. The last poem, I really liked was called “Daddy.” Sharday started off the poem by saying, “I was a daddy’s girl without the daddy.” The poem focused on her imagination of a daddy that was so real that she would walk hand-in-hand with him in the park. The poem changed with emotion as her daddy reminded her of a ghost; “he came and went, he was here then gone.” 

A Wonderful Collection that Speaks Volumes

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Collection of Poetry and Prose
Received 4 out of 5 stars

Review:
Evan Shaw’s desire to enlighten the world with his internal treasures is truly exemplified in his first book, Collection of Poetry and Prose. In the beginning of the book, I was a little undecided of where Mr. Shaw’s poetic voice would display his zeal.  I was made fully aware of his voice in the piece called “The New Atlantis.” Although the premise of “The New Atlantis” overlaps with the ideas and works of Plato, the ideas within the work were very inspirational. I was intrigued by the tour guides in the piece explaining that “Education is very important to us here… we focus on cultivating student’s passions.” This notation and Mr. Shaw’s thoughts about America’s current educational system, reminded me of reading Rich Dad, Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki. Within the book, Mr. Kiyosaki discussed how managing one’s finance was not always taught in schools or homes. I recognized this as being the same aspect that Mr. Shaw was trying to illustrate in his discussion about developing one’s passion at school.

Mr. Shaw continued to impress me with his writing as his work revealed his respect and openness about various cultures (Indian, Egyptian, Greek, Chinese, etc.). He spoke of Gautama Buddha,” the Great Sphinx of Giza, Sophocles, Lao Tzu, and more. One of my favorite pieces in his book was called “The School of Life.” He starts off by saying that “The world is a great classroom.” This very quote reminded me of something I generally say to help encourage others; life is the best teacher. This means that we do not always know where life will lead us and that sometimes our experience in life shows us the best path to take. The piece ended with such clear direction; “As Jesus said, ‘build your house on a rock,’ develop a solid foundation – a strong character. Then all else will be added.”

I recommend this book as a good read with similar insightfulness as Napolean Hill’s book, Think and Grow Rich. Mr. Shaw’s collection will prepare you for the journey of developing your mind in a way, which will attract success and like forces.