LitPick Review
Life’s but a Poem by Peter King is a short collection of poems about a variety of topics in life. The book is a mini autobiography in poems. It takes us through the author’s life from being born to present, making stops along the way. Just a few of the topics include learning of his attempt at sports, falling in love, and enjoying nature with him, and he imparts some wisdom on us as well.
Opinion:
Poetry is one of the last genres I ever choose to read. I will never think to myself “I really want to read some poems today.” I typically find poetry high brow, wordy, and boring. Rest assured, that is not the case with this collection by Mr. King! Mr. King himself hits the nail right on the head in two of his poems about getting his collection published. The following excerpts from those two works explain exactly why poetry is not universally loved and illustrate exactly why I do love Mr. King’s poetry:
“But now reality does bite
No printer is quite ready yet
To think my verses are quite right
So, I at home then start to fret
Critics on me then pour scorn
to leave me home and quite forlorn
But for their words I care no jot
And, so more verses do I plot”
“Though pundits and the expert’s sniffle,
their opinions sound like piffle
For one man’s taste is not for all
my verse the reader should enthrall”
I applaud Mr. King for publishing his work regardless of what the critics and pundits said, for he is exactly right that one person’s opinion is not for all, and had he not published his collection I would not have had the joy of his words. I laughed out loud at reading his defiance, if you will, and the fact that he continued his collection made me extremely happy.
The poems are short and have commonly understood wording, a welcome reprieve from the wordy high brow poetry I mentioned earlier. Better still is the author’s ability to laugh at himself in some poems, a quality that I find refreshing. The topics of the poems are universal to pretty much every one, making his work incredibly relatable to any audience. Who hasn’t failed at something, been rejected, or fallen in love? Mr. King has shown that poetry can be humorous, fun, and inviting, whereas I typically think of it as intimidating and boring.
This is exactly the reason I love independent publishing. Maybe the whole world doesn’t love what one writer has to say, or maybe they do, but one will never know if they just passively accept the critics negative opinions. I loved this collection of poems, but I think I may love Mr. King’s fighting spirit even more. I am so glad I chose to read this poetry!
