Title: Paper Flowers: A Poetic Journey Through Love, Loss and Healing
Author: Kias Emmanuel Creech
Publisher: Leap Write Literary
ISBN: 979-8893761375
Pages: 307
Genre: Non-fiction, Poetry
Reviewed by: Lily Amanda
Pacific Book Review
Some friendships deserve to be recognized and appreciated in written verse. As the famous French poet Jean de La Fontaine famously wrote, “Rare as is true love, true friendship is rarer.” Kias Emmanuel Creech’s heart-tugging and touching collection Paper Flowers: A Poetic Journey Through Love, Loss and Healing takes readers on a heartfelt journey of emotions and lyrical rhyme. Here, he explores the universal themes of friendship, hardships, love, and loss as he reminisces on a beautiful friendship that began in 1995 and lasted decades with a departed loved one.
The book contains remembrance poems written as a dedication to Patricia, Creech’s lifelong friend who passed away in 2023, describing her as the twin of his soul and his confidant even in death as is in the words, “God brought us together, As He’d promised us one day, All hell cannot divide us, Or, from you, keep me away.” Although gone, her spirit, as the affecting ode demonstrates, lives on in the poet’s heart and the shared memories solid as a rock in his mind.
Spilling of love, gratitude, and estimation, this collection reveals the adversities of affliction and pain in various capacities, shared over the years by the two friends and the incredible support they gave each other. The text goes further to discuss historic moments that bonded Americans both in their poignancy and patriotism. An example of this is the 9/11 tragedy in the poem “9/11,” which serves as a tribute to the victims of that fateful day. Still, in such entries, which are few, the friendship between the two shines, both in its intimacy and strong bond.
Creech does not shy away from being vulnerable before our eyes, in his writing about Patricia and how she enriched his life. Some poems appear to be pensive soliloquies, reflecting on the engulfing sadness of losing a loved one; others demand to be read out loud as they laud the joyful moments that the two shared. Together, these jewels offer a potent motivation for long-lasting friendships and a shining tribute to dear Patricia.
This poetry work is a gentle reminder that life in itself is delicate and fragile and hence we should grab the colorful petals of shared moments and make the most of them. Noteworthy is the mesmeric prose here, as the collection flows in a meticulous choice of words and vivid imagery, from a poet with an inventive and musical voice. Unlike some poetry books I have read, the poems in Paper Flowers: A Poetic Journey Through Love, Loss and Healing by Kias Emmanuel Creech are resonant and ring true, penned in an astonishing depth. Undulating between the past and present of what true friendship entails, its unembellished style will enthrall fans of poetry.
