May 2023 MBR The Poetry Shelf

The Poetry Shelf

Seasons of Life
Susan McLeod
Atmosphere Press
www.atmospherepress.com
9781639887118, $14.99

https://www.amazon.com/Seasons-Life-Susan-McLeod/dp/1639887113

Poetry readers who choose Seasons of Life will find it a collection spanning childhood, coming-of-age, and adulthood. It offers inspections both personal and universal as it discusses family, holidays, and the "four seasons" of growth which tie them together. In many ways, Seasons of Life represents a throwback ... to simpler times and to rhythms lost in the modern swing towards free verse, much of which has almost lost the ability to be defined as 'poetry'.

The rhyming simplicity of Susan McLeod's effort alludes to a time when poetry was both readily understandable and rhythmically attractive. One example lies in her survey of various kids' games, such as 'Hoops': "Roll, roll our hoops on the grass they go/Which way they fall, we don't know/Playing with our hoops was lots of fun/Kept my friends and I on the run/I remember a simpler time/When playing hoops was very fine".

Modern poetry readers seem to look for and embrace a sense of complexity and philosophical musing in their works. The progressive short pieces in this collection pack a lot of punch into a number of succinct descriptions of life, allowing for more experiences to be explored than one would think by the page count of this book.

Seasons of Life is a road map of experiences of a bygone era. The cadence of the rhyme, the simple daily life experiences which are presented with a sense of joy rather than complexity, and the attention to swimming holes, summer days, and family comfort is a breath of fresh air against the usual angst-laden emotional turmoil of modern poetry. It will attract readers seeking expressions of life's progression in a more celebratory manner than most poetic inspections offer.

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