Category Archives: poems

Book Review: The Age Begins by Oneal Walters

The Age Begins
by Oneal Walters
(The Age Begins Books)
4.5 out of 5 Stars

With The Age Begins, Oneal Walters puts his heartbeats on paper. When a writer is a poet, the literature is filled with poetic elements. Oneal Walters is a poet that is a writer. The Age Begins is a poetic assemblage that shows, through verse and concept, the story of a working man who is also a struggling, educated poet. From “Born Again” to “Finding Pleasure” to “A Special Proceeding”, Walters gives the reader a candid peak inside of a poet’s perspective.

This is a poetry book that cannot be judged for simply being a poetry book, nor can it be judged by the illustration on the book’s cover. The cuddling camels and prodigious palace in a vast desert conjure Saharan images complete with flying carpets and magical lamps. Instead, The Age Begins is steeped in the complexity of love, the challenges of finding a fulfilling job and the toils of gaining respect as a writer.

From the poem “Passionate”:

Perhaps when unseeing writers write
Books become loveless.
The best avenue for reviving
Breathless books is to
Breathe in the outward
Cries of the people

The Age Begins reads like the soundtrack of the life of a person seeking truth with his poetry and precision with his heart. Like any true poet, the main character’s passion is for the artistic purity of writing. Walter deftly depicts the rejection by the hands of the gatekeepers of the publishing world. Then there are the people who claim they will help, but never do. There is also the underlying encounter between the main character and a female that brings a heightened level of sexual and intellectual complexity.

The reoccurring bus trips and genuine conversations with the female were especially poignant. The main character shares his innermost secrets, his innermost thoughts. The reader gets an exchange that is transparent and more enriching than the manufactured struggles of a romance novel. Walters manages to give the best definition of the concept of love I have ever come across in “Explain Love”.

From the poem “Strongest Female”:

I’m leaving this bus, one last time,
She’s “the one” I said a few times.
Understanding her makes me happy
Accepting her strengths inspires me.

There is a section of The Age Begins that deals with something that is very close to home for many people: the effects of an economic recession. Walters becomes a journalist in the true sense of the word as he details the ravaging effects that the lack of love and money can have on a marriage. Poems like “BETRAYAL” and “Curse and Be Cursed” tell the story of mental deterioration under the strangle of distress.

From the poem “Cursed and Be Cursed”:

Perry is fired today.
He watches the time
To see if I will be
Fired too.

All in all, The Age Begins is more than slick rhyme schemes that skim over abstract ideas in order to affront cuteness. If you are looking for composition that is more reality that fantasy, this is a collection of life’s poetry: brutally honest and deceptively beautiful.

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Book Review: Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia – A Life in Poems by Patricia Neely-Dorsey

Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia
by Patricia Neely-Dorsey
(GrantHouse Publishing)
4 out of 5 Stars


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In a time where most people shun being called “country”, Patricia Neely-Dorsey’s Reflection of a Mississippi Magnolia embraces all that is Mississippi country living. Before you can even open this collection of poetry, you are greeted with the beauty of a magnolia, Mississippi’s state flower.

Neely-Dorsey’s poems vividly and collectively paint a picture of a life that is simple yet provides rich experiences. From the authentic Southern menu found in “Soul Food Restaurant” to the culture depicted in “Yardsaling”, this collection of poetry gives more than a glimpse into lives of the good people of Mississippi. From the “Southern Man” poem where the main character fixes the back fence to the truth found in “If Mississippi’s In You”, Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia shows a genuine pride in Southern culture.

I spent many summers in the small town of Winona, MS, where my dad still lives. I can say with confidence that Neely-Dorsey is an artist of words. Her images are painted vividly across the canvas of your mind as you thumb through her musings. Her words and rhyme patterns are simple, yet the complex imagery the words evoke will whisk yo down memory lane. I remember the “muscadines ripen[ing] on winding vines” (from “A Country View”) and using Vick’s Vapor Rub on everything “from arthritis to [a] bee sting” and “on chest or back” (from “Country Cure (All)”).

With Reflections of a Mississippi Magnolia, Patricia Neely-Dorsey gives the world a book that is part biography, part rhymes, part imagination but all Mississippi!

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5 Minutes, 5 Questions With… John “Survivor” Blake, author of Warm Tequila and Cold Blood

JoeyPinkney.com Exclusive Intervie
5 Minutes, 5 Questions With…
John “Survivor” Blake, author of Warm Tequila and Cold Blood


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“John “Survivor” Blake enters a place in his writing that few others I know dare to. With a pristine voice of epic magnitude, Blake’s words pull the reader or listener into the heart of his raw, fragmented truth of unshakeable power. He understands the incredible responsibility of being an artist; as much as anyone I have ever known.” – Carlos Andrés Gómez.

What if someone pointed out a homeless vagrant to you and said, “That’s going to be a well-known poet and biographer, and he’ll change lives around the world?” Would you laugh; raise an eyebrow and inquire as to their usage of narcotics; check them for a fever? Imagine a man against all odds; born dopesick, poverty-stricken, expected to fail… then a poem saves his life!

Joey Pinkney: Where did you get the idea and inspiration to write Warm Tequila and Cold Blood?

John Blake: Well, after losing my immediate family to heroin, AIDS and prison, I battled with depression for years. I couldn’t accept I was going to go through life. At the time, I was only 34 and already without my parents and most of my siblings.

I began finding sanctuary in bottles of tequila. By the time I got to the bar, I couldn’t wait for the bartender to shake, stir or prepare my drinks. I told them to “just give it to me warm”.

The world just seemed so cold to me. Tequila felt like the only warmth in my life. Television began to depress me; glory-killing, girls too young for what they were advertising on the screen, the news, politics, everything just seemed “cold blooded”.

JP: What sets Warm Tequila and Cold Blood apart from other collections of poetry?

JB: Three things: (1) Cárlos Andrés Gómez told me, “Poetry’s like sex; nothing happens until you get your clothes off”. So I got very, very vulnerable with this book. I expressed my ideas and experiences that I would not normally share with strangers.

(2) Editors. I wasn’t afraid to let some of the best modern poets of our nation take a look at my work and guide me to an exceptional place: Samantha Thornhill, Jeanann Verlee, Rachel McKibbens, Rose Smith, Rob Sturma, Laura Yes, and many others.

(3) I stopped caring with publishers wanted. That was my biggest mistake in the beginning: writing for publishers when all the while I should have been trying to purge what my spirit was telling me to get rid of; what my poems demanding that I scribe!

JP: What are the titles of the other poetry collections you have self-published? And tell us a little about them.

JB: Well, the first was Leap from the Cliff: Wings Only Grow When Needed, which was the first risk I took with writing. It’s still the favorite of most admirers of my work. Then came Mama Said which was an entire book of about twenty poems dedicated to my Mom and other single, hard-working women around the world.

Then I wrote Warm Tequila and Cold Blood and When Peace Comes and published them at the same time. Warm Tequila and Cold Blood was a serious purging and When Peace Comes was the acceptance. I’ve come full circle with the dope, the booze, the loss and all the other pain. I’ve climbed over and landed smooth.

JP: What do you do to get your poetry known to the public?

JB: Everything from selling my merchandise directly after shows to offering free copies to bookstores in every city I tour. I began by selling them in Union Square Park. I had a table, and I’d even walk up to groups offering to share my art. It took courage, but what doesn’t?

JP: What’s next for John “Survivor” Blake?

JB: I’m taking on my memoir and The Greyhound Essays. The memoir will be a five-part series, and the first book will be title Drifting from Fire because my grandmother promised my biracial parents that nothing would hurt me too deep; racism, poverty…nothing; that I would overcome it all like smoke “drifting from fire”.

The essays will be about my cross-country travels from poetry venue to college to jails; facilitating workshops and performing. I rode Greyhound buses for most of it, and you’d be amazed what I learned about this nation and its residents. So The Greyhound Essays are coming. Then I plan on sitting next to Oprah on ABC and telling the world “Nothing, nothing can stop us as long we we’re willing to walk through it”.

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