This is a copy of a review posted on Amazon.com.

Just a Sign of the Times    Katie Lewington

complex and personal    four stars

Star counts are personal, so, as always, do not let my star count override your judgement of content. More on the stars, counting, and my rating challenges later. Let’s get to the interesting stuff: Lewington’s work.

Some of the poems are long, almost happenings. Turn to Ketchup: None for an example of this. For a weird commentary on drugs, turn to High, where the first person speaker is the drug.

For a complex and personal poem, turn to The Subject Will Be, which includes this: “Hear him sing /Hear her say I love you /Hear the soft moans and groans /Of something pure /Hear the silence and tear it down /This won’t end….”

For personal disaster, turn to Screwed. It’s impossible to capture this long poem in a quick quote. For another tough situation, turn to Confessional, where we find this: “And although she viewed this man, her husband  /Through bruised eyes  /Hearing his confession  /Through boxed ears  /She knew she loved him…”

If you’re scrolling for the tiny carps, they are few. Possibly some typos. The formatting could imho be much nicer, and the work clearly deserves top-notch presentation. Enough, already; back to the poems.

Social commentary abounds here, as in Smart Girl. Relationships are probed in Tattoo and Family, and again in Photos.

A personal favourite here is Love, which begins thus: “Love is the one that won’t leave….”

Give all the above, how do I decide on four stars? My personal guidelines, when doing an ‘official’ KBR review, are as follows: five stars means, roughly equal to best in genre. Rarely given. Four stars means, extremely good. Three stars means, definitely recommendable. I am a tough reviewer, and I try to be consistent. This is an early work of an extremely promising writer. If you find as many satisfying pieces as I did, you will agree that four stars is clearly justified. Definitely recommended.

Kindle Book Review Team member.

(Note: this reviewer received a free copy of this book for an independent review. He is not associated with the author or Amazon.)