Message in a Bottle:
Poets Respond to Hopeful Communication
Editors: Mary Beth Bretzlauf, William T. Carey, Jennifer Dotson, Julie Isaacson,
Jen Meyer & Marjorie Rissman
Cover Design: Jennifer Dotson
Format: 6 x 9 ~ Perfect Bound ~ Soft Cover
83 Poems ~ 78 pages ~ Bios of each participating poet and editor
Price: $15.00
Publisher: Highland Park Poetry Press
ISBN-13: 979-8-9880919-7-4
To Order: Amazon.com
Reviewed by Michael Escoubas
Every summer Highland Park Poetry Press comes out with yet another superb anthology. Contributors from all over the world and the United States offer their best work on a specific theme. The collaborative process lasts more than a year with the result being a virtual banquet of poetic delights sure to please even the most sophisticated palate. This year’s theme Message in a Bottle, is second to none in drawing fourth quality work.
Seventeen-year-old Briana Wessel’s “Lover’s Beach” stands out for its creativity. Note the plaintive messages both up and down as well as horizontally:
Where
Children played, and grown-ups talked,
I waited in the waves near shore.
Did
you see me, love?
Did you see me seeing you?
Did you see the bottle at your feet?
You
Must have, it’s your favorite color.
Pink and rosy and divine, the color I see
surrounding you.
But now I see you turn to
Go.
Aren’t you going to join me?
I’ve waited for oh so long.
I yearn to be beneath the water with you
once again.
My
Scales have begun to dry,
my tail lying restlessly atop the soft waves.
Sirens aren’t known to fall for humans,
But you’re too special.
Too perfect.
Aren’t you still my friend?
Aren’t you still my
Love?
Message in a Bottle is all about effective communication. Terry L Slaney’s “Telephone” gives readers pause to consider differing ways of getting through to people:
We used bottles instead of tin cans at first
but it didn’t work
If you want the message to get through
choose the right vessel won’t you?
The words in the bottle will remain, but
in the tin can they will fly out on the bounty main
of air and sound waves picked up again
at the other end
into the ear, and out, my friend.
From beyond our borders, Sreejata Roy, from Kolkata, India, avers that the shared “message” is contained within the bottle of the poet’s heart:
The Letting Go of Light
An untold conflagration of a loving heart:
I am bottling the flames up,
like fireflies stolen from the night
and surrendering them to the river
that meanders down my city.
Let these disappear
with the dissolving stars in the water
or get lost in the tides
of the yawning ocean
I would risk them to never be received
rather than having to extinguish them again
and live on with the charred remains.
Roy’s impressive use of imagery: fireflies stolen from the night, dissolving stars in the water, and the yawning ocean, represent the first-rate talent on display throughout this superb anthology.
“Vintage Wine in the Cabinet,” by Chinese American poet William Marr, shows Marr’s skill with lineage ranging anywhere from two to seven syllables:
water and fire
love and hate
soul and flesh
after countless fierce battles
and intermingles
it now becomes settled
clear and bright
the older its age
the more aromatic
floating on the sea
of time
emitting amber light
this magic bottle
from Arabian Nights
is waiting patiently
no, impatiently
for someone to fish it up
and uncork
Marr’s signature cryptic style paints a vivid picture. One can easily visualize the subtle amber light of the bottle floating upon the sea. But Marr’s message runs deeper than that … it is a commentary on the human condition. The vintage wine of a wise heart … when will humankind drink deeply of peace, mercy, and grace?
By the time I had finished reading each poem in Message, I came to realize the editorial skills of the volume’s gifted team of editors. They have assembled a full-orbed portrait of the human condition. Morgan Silas Donnelly’s “Love Rings Out,“ captures, with subtle charm, things this reviewer bottles up in his heart:
Love rings out in clear black night
A bell without sound
A fire without heat
A jury without sight
Love rings out in clear dewy dawn
A blue bird sings
A kettle whistles
The village comes alive
A doe nuzzles her fawn
Love rings out in clear bright day
Workers yell instructions
Coffee is poured
Dogs go for walks
Recess arrives, and children play
Love rings out across the miles
Across the waves
Across the chasms
To the stars and to the heavens
when sweet memories bubble up
and smiles erupt
on the two who share knowing
of how sweet love can be
Ah! Yes … the sweetness of love … order you copy today: Message in a Bottle: Poets Respond to Hopeful Communication … underpriced at a mere $15.00.
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