Through the Years by James Jellerson
MWSA Review
The book is a collection of 75 poems reflecting titles from A to Z as author Jellerson takes us on his one man's journey through the years.
In this small but fulfilling book of intimate poetry, author Jellerson bares his soul as he puts words to the universal human emotions of love, death, faith, family and friends.
Poems are a very personal literary form. Jellerson's words are passionate and obviously come from his personal experiences which are outlined in his bio on the back cover. He's been to war, has loved and lost love, has known death and new life. He's also been a chaplain and his faith is strong. Jellerson knows of what he writes.
Jellerson's poem styles include everything from imagery poems to analogy; from free verse to blank verse; romanticism to elegy with a little carpe diem in the mix. He writes well of the human condition and there were several poems that spoke specifically to me. In "Knights of the Night" Jellerson puts in words what many of us have probably felt as he writes: "There is a Castle I keep within, the walls are high and strong; It is there that I will oft retreat, when I sense that things are wrong." In "Seven Stars" he writes of friends he lost in Vietnam and in "The Stone" he tells of being 18 and home from war on Christmas Eve. Both are touching and offer insight to the true cost of war.
If one enjoys reading poetry about conditions of the heart, this is a good collection to read.
Reviewed by: Gail Chatfield (2011)
Author's Synopsis