Bloom
& Grow
Peter
J Donnelly
Alien
Buddha Press, 2025
ISBN:
9798313441412
Ebook,
43 ppg.
Buy link
Bloom
& Grow
by Peter J Donnelly is not just a book of poetry; it is a book of memories. Of
pets lost and people long gone. Of times spent enjoying meals and the company
of others.
The
book starts with memories of someone who never had pets. Why, the author
supposes, is a mystery. We are presented with assumptions:
Was
it the thought of a flap
on
her back door,
saucers
of food, milk
and
water on the floor
of
her kitchen with no utility area,
or
heaven forbid, litter trays? (page 6)
Then
the next poem is about a cat, Willow, that was once a part of the author’s
life. It’s a sweet poem. Fur babies leave paw prints on our hearts long after
they are gone.
The
next poems are reflections of people who are now gone. The memories the author
has of knowing them. The poem “The Morning of Your Funeral” on page 10 is about
the arduous task of clearing away the things that belonged to a loved one. I
have experienced such a thing, but my experience was not for the home of
someone I was related to or someone I knew. It was a friend’s father, and as I
did this, I noticed the calendar on the wall that was still on the month when
he had been taken to the hospital, the records he probably enjoyed listening to, and the books he kept on shelves that he must have read or cited from time to
time. All of those things were a part of this person’s life. So these lines in
the poem were ones I understood:
Clearing
your house was
like
taking apart the pieces
of
a completed jigsaw, but one that hadn’t
been
recently done - the image
had
been there for fifty years,
almost
unchanged.
This
poem makes me think about the things we leave behind after we pass away.
Sometimes I wonder what will become of all of my own things. I already told my
husband and kids that they are free to take of my stuff before passing it all
on to other people in the family, but I always wonder about how hard such a
task would be for someone who is essentially disposing of the things from a
person’s life that MEANT something to them. Things that were important to them.
How hard it must be to part with it all.
I
am fortunate to have some things which once belonged to people no longer in
this world, and I sometimes wonder how the people that owned them enjoyed them
while still alive. Did my friend’s dad write letters at his desk, which is now
in my bedroom? Did a friend often use a music encyclopedia which I now have in
my living room, to look things up or for trivia?
Are
we ever attached to our possessions in the afterlife? I wonder about this too,
because several years ago, my mom told me that she wanted all of my writing
when I die, but she passed away first. I like to think she is able to
enjoy all of my writing in spirit – even the boxes of writing that were left
behind when I moved to Oregon. These thoughts came to me as I read the poem “Where
It Hangs Now” on page 11, a poem which talks about a drawing that once belonged
to someone which was “sandwiched between ivory paper,/its label folded over the
top/of
a cardboard window mat.” Here the author wonders if the original owner of this
signed drawing would notice how it is now framed and:
we’ll
never know what you think
of
the frame I bought in Northallerton,
or
the picture’s new home on the wall
of
my entrance hall. It looks down
on
your Chinese floor vase
and
your small purple one
on
the half moon table,
opposite
the photo of you both
at
Auntie H’s wedding.
I
could say it’s as if you’re admiring it
but
from the angle, it’s more like
your
eyes are averted.
The
title poem on page 13 is about two plant foods that had belonged to someone
the author knew, whose plants he cares for now. Here he ponders:
but
the one labelled Bloom
had
less in it than the one labelled Grow.
Did
you use more of it
or
had you just had it longer?
The
author uses these thoughts as a comparison in how he cares for the plants and
how discarding one after its use was a big moment for him, because it was “the
first thing of yours I’ve thrown out.”
The
other poems in this book are about reflections from the author’s life, how
times have changed, as well as poems about food (I liked the one about honey).
Sometimes the poem’s title answers a question the reader may have, or it states
the thing the author won’t say in the poem.
Bloom
& Grow
is a collection of poems that I sincerely enjoyed reading. The poems in this
book gave me a lot to think about, pondering the changing times just as the
author does, while also reflecting on those once in my life who now exist only
in my memories or their possessions I have in my home. The poems are written so
well, drawing me in and taking me back to the past or on the streets of the
United Kingdom. The poems in this book offer quality insights about our
connection with people as well as attachments to things we leave behind. I recommend
this book to anyone who enjoys reading free verse poetry.
Five
stars
Disclaimer:
I received a copy of this book as part of my digital subscription to Alien
Buddha Press.
