Title: Inspired Poems to Inspire
Author: Margaret Goh
Publisher: PartridgeSingapore
ISBN: 978-1543764239
Genre: Poetry
Pages: 50
Reviewed by: Lily Amanda
Pacific Book Review
“Poetry is the best vehicle to convey the musicality of spirituality through powerful Christian verse.” -Phillip Matogo
Faith in God is a healing balm for an injured heart and provides solace in unimaginable ways. Along with that, careful, uplifting thoughts and words of inspiration shared within poetry from a poet who has walked the faith journey during the most trying times significantly provide comfort and solace for many others going through a hard time or a season of grief.
Inspired Poems to Inspire is a set of empowering couplets written by Margaret Goh. With subjects such as God’s overwhelming and everlasting love for mankind, true friendship, loss, eternal life, the character of God, and lessons learned from mistakes, these vignettes employ great care in their affecting and pleasurable language. The book’s introduction is sizeable allowing readers to catch a glimpse of the poet’s life and how her journey of writing inspiring poems began. Margaret lost her husband of forty- four years in an accident in 2015 and thus began her journey of writing poetry as a means of catharsis and reflection on God’s goodness. She writes “Sorrow is something so hard to describe but with God on my side, I was able to overcome this tragic episode of my life.”
In each piece, there is much to rejoice in as the poet celebrates the ever-present hand of God which carries us through this dark world as the poet encourages readers that God is in control and will carry us through the unfamiliar ground. Margaret’s words ring with the resounding power of God’s mercies, creating a semantic experience whose end rhymes and half rhymes fill out each stanza with emphasis. Further, most of these, when read out loud, simply synchronize the poem’s motion. Some entries emerge as pensive soliloquies such as Quiet Reflections while others demand to be read out loud as elements of praise and admiration for God jump out of the pages brilliantly such as Our Mind and The Morning Dawn. Together, they utilize brevity that invites rumination on the existence of God in our lives.
Inspired Poems to Inspire by Margaret Goh is a beautiful collection which when read devotedly, will bless your life. Read a few at a time or read them all, but come back and read again and again to dig up the nuances that you may have left during the first reading. Their gentle nature admirably shines a soft light on the heart and soul.
