Wild Woman Waking, by Morgan Dragonwillow

“Sleeping isn’t possible once you explore the inner and outer world of poetry; transformation happens and your eyes open wide.” – Morgan Dragonwillow.

Truer words have not been said for the power of poetry. Being a poet, I can understand it, having traveled through the lanes of my imagination, exploring verse, and letting it explore me whenever it wants to. It must have been kismet that this book fell into my reading path, for I’ve not read a collection of poems lately that has spoken to me more than this one.

“My Words”, a poem in the collection so effortlessly says what I go through as a poet, what words do to me at times, how they escape from my hands and spill onto paper. In life, a lot of times, I’ve been “Hiding from the Pain”. It’s a lesson that most of us learn the hard way I suppose, and some of us not at all, even though it stares us in the face. We “Fall” to realize who we are, “Haunting” us till the words come out and another poem is written.

Reading her words, I wonder at times “What Happened” to our lives, when making money became more important than making moments to remember, when hearts that mattered became “Neglected”. It makes me think of “Anger” in a different, almost “Unforgiving Light”. It takes some words out of me, leaves me “Shouting” silently and “Grasping Air”.

Whatever I’ve put in quotes here are the titles of some of my favorite poems in the book. There are more that I love, some that I don’t quite get. Another thing that makes this book beautiful is the image with each poem. I’ve seen acrostics and cinquains in this collection. But mostly, it’s just fabulous free verse. It is a collection that, as a poet, I will return to reading often.

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Title: Wild Woman Waking
Author: Morgan Dragonwillow
Genre: Poetry
ISBN/ASIN: B00IP1E1FG

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Dancing Within Shadow, by Morgan Dragonwillow

Poetry of a known person is always wonderful to read. You have a sense of their muse, even if it is an incomplete one, and that sense helps to understand that poem a little more than reading the poem of an absolutely unknown poet. Of course, it helps if the poetry is understandable and not too deep. I’ve known the poetry of Morgan Dragonwillow only through her blog and through the OctPoWriMo writing challenge. So when the opportunity came to get her eBook for free, I grabbed it.

Section 1 of the book is titled Darkness, and true to the title, the poems in the section are dark, poignant and thought provoking. I think the poem I could relate to mostly was “I remember me”, for I have seen a similarity to my life and that of the comic character she mentions in this poem.

Section 2 of the book is titled Rebellion, and it’s about standing up for what you believe in. The poems in this part were about strength, and somewhat about other’s opinions. My favorite from this part of the book was “Out loud”, which is about laughter, and laughing out loud even when others try to stifle it.

Section 3 of the book is titled Love, and the poems in the part are about love, and feeling it. Though I liked most poems in this part, the one that I loved the most was “Grandpa Joe”, for I could relate to it easily, my grandfather having taught me a lot of things even though his ideas were mostly inflexible.

Section 4 of the book is titled Light, and the poem I loved is “Peace”. A palindrome poem that felt as peaceful as the title. And she ends the book with a poem that ends with the lines “Who I really am… is me” which felt just wonderful.

There are poems in this book which I do not understand as easily, but some that I really like and relate to. But none of the poems deter me from trying to understand it. I would rate this book a 7 on 10. And yes, I would read it again.

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Book Details:
Title: Dancing within Shadow
Author: Morgan Dragonwillow
Genre: Poetry
ISBN/ASIN: B00C100FPC

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