This was my third review as a Kindle Book Review team member.

Three stars.

In his prologue, Keith Prabhu says this: This collection of poems explores and celebrates life in all its richness.   It explores the kaleidoscope of emotions that a human experiences during the journey through life.   The journey of finding and losing,   The journey of loving and hating.   The journey of rising and falling.  The journey of a soul as it traverses multiple lives.   Come walk this path with me…

You will find twenty poems.  They contain more a teaching, a point of view, than does other poetry which might try to push the writer’s physical/sensual experience into the reader.  This book is really a gentle philosophy course, and its point of view includes reincarnation with the hope of achieving some form of super-excellence as well. The word “God” occurs only four times, and two of those are in negative contexts. However, the opening poem, ‘The Sea of Life’, introduces Prabhu’s philosophy with a ray of hope in a difficult world. There are negative poems as well; in ‘Life is a Conman’ we are told we can’t win.

There is also sexual longing: in ‘Dream Lover’, unsatisfied; in ‘With a Girl Like You’, satisfied but with an unsettling surprise ending.

If I had to make a tiny carp or two, they would be these: the rhyme and rhythm aren’t always perfect, and, the subject matter perhaps of necessity leads to experiences that are mostly abstract. You will see the girl’s skin and eyes, but you won’t touch them and your heart won’t flutter. Nevertheless there is real value in this book.

Perhaps my favourite in this collection is the poem ‘Going to the dark side.’ Here the ability to make a choice is placed above the ability to endure a difficult world in virtue. This is continued further in the poem ‘I’ll Be Back’ where ambition is driven by the possibility of future revenge.

I felt the strongest social commentary was in the poem, ‘Modern Times’. This is another of my favourites in this book.

If you want a slightly abstract, definitely philosophical, book to read, then this collection is for you. Recommended.

Jim Bennett  (The Kindle Book Review Team)