Mignon Press

Employing a creative use of punctuation along with vibrant and original wordplay, the author manipulates images and symbols to produce an artistic work that is rich in metaphor and multi-layered meaning. In this verbal art space, epic-length poems combine with several shorter sequences to produce an engaging and varied collection of poetry.

Through the use of large perceptual vistas, the poet creates a psychological, emotional and spiritual playground in which surfaces and interiors are equally explored – exposing private and social belief systems as well as presenting new possibilities. The concept of “hope” conveys the transitory or dreamlike aspect of our human desires, whilst the idea of “substance” transmits the solid expression or manifestation of an ideal – the latter providing the greater sustenance of our lives and goal-based achievement. Hope and Substance effectively represents our human struggles for self-actualisation and an integrated consciousness – as we move closer to a state of emotional balance, inner freedom and the definitive wisdom gained through the multitude of our life’s experiences.

Much of the poetry is stripped of politeness, exposing raw edges and a harsh confrontation with aspects of the self and with the world – as emotional frailties are examined and human behaviours are dissected or compartmentalised. It is here that characters become lost and found again, reaching quietly and instinctively toward a unique path of self-realisation where the end of one personal journey is also an invitation to begin another. Divinity and humanity are symbolically intertwined with references to an all-devouring mother figure (herself a divine symbol of creativity and immortality) plus dominating male figures who define the material world – and a loose orientation to an “almighty” God that points to an internalisation of our Higher spiritual intellect as well as the balancing out of “good and evil” forces inherent in the continuum of our daily lives.

Rather than skimming the surface of life, the author dares us to look deeper at what is there, promoting self-awareness as a desirable attribute. It is through atmospheres of chaos and adversity, folly and grief – that the work delves coarsely, if not abruptly, into aspects of the human condition, a lack of ethics or scruples and the spiritual degradation of society. In a world often devoid of compassion and nurturing values, we can get easily lost, searching blindly for our genuine selves in the midst of worldly drama. In our dual pursuit of human union and self-gratification, the stresses of globalisation are ever-present as is the rollercoaster ride of overwhelming external influences in which we seek to process all the “input” with which we are constantly bombarded.

And so the reader, too, shall step boldly forth onto a series of untamed and cathartic inner journeys…

The human psyche is placed modestly under an analytic microscope as the author draws observations from both the world of matter and from the subtler workings of the meditative mind. There is plenty of symbolism, allusion and wordplay with the poet blurring the lines between “real” and perceived structures, as the human world oscillates between the physical and the spiritual. The poems depict micro-pictures of the world where small-scale or miscellaneous events are simply part of a greater global vision and macrocosmic awareness. Effectively, it is from within this inspired labyrinth of collective memory and personal recollection where we all find ourselves replicating the universal human experience.