critic – Phil Slattery, Writer, Publisher

I found out a few minutes ago that I received a vey favorable review for Nocturne: Poems of Love, Distance, and the Night, a callous and disinterested lover from L.S. Popovich. I sent her a copy on November 17 and the review appeared today on Amazon and Goodreads. I did not pay her for the review. She should be posting the review on LibraryThing and her blog soon (the review might already be on both, but I haven’t found it yet). On Amazon and Goodreads she gave Nocturne five stars and titled the review “enjoyable poems, full of emotional resonance“. Here I quote her review:

Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2020 This collection does not pretend to be anything more than it claims, but sometimes all you need are straightforward poems to pass the time. They are like deep meditations, in the vein of Saint Augustine – who is quoted at the beginning. These poems happen to be about love, and all of the attendant moments in life appended to that deep feeling, which though transitory, run though our lives like a current. I would not hesitate to call the deep or poignant, but they possess a brooding sense of vanishing happiness, of lost sensations.
In a way this is one of the quietest collections I’ve read. The words evoke the ordinary elegance of everyday things, the certainty and uncertainty of magical moments in day-to-day life, they bring to mind summer, youth, exuberance, and melancholia.
The poems flow into one another, can be read quickly or be savored, and many images stand out as memorable set-pieces upon the pages. The rhythm of the lines are very readable, and they are not bogged down by rhyme and meter. Distinguishing between poetry and prose in this context has to do with layout and punctuation, which are both in the form of free verse. They are easy on the eyes and soft on the heart. Affecting, at times breathtaking, simple, ageless and as clear and brisk as the air on an early morning in a mountain town.
Received a review copy from the author.
Reviewed on Amazon and Goodreads, November 27, 2020

Thanks L.S. Popovich for a favorable review. It is much appreciated.

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Reviewed in the United States on November 27, 2020 This collection does not pretend to be anything more than it claims, but sometimes all you need are straightforward poems to pass the time. They are like deep meditations, in the vein of Saint Augustine – who is quoted at the beginning. These poems happen to be about love, and all of the attendant moments in life appended to that deep feeling, which though transitory, run though our lives like a current. I would not hesitate to call the deep or poignant, but they possess a brooding sense of vanishing happiness, of lost sensations.
In a way this is one of the quietest collections I’ve read. The words evoke the ordinary elegance of everyday things, the certainty and uncertainty of magical moments in day-to-day life, they bring to mind summer, youth, exuberance, and melancholia.
The poems flow into one another, can be read quickly or be savored, and many images stand out as memorable set-pieces upon the pages. The rhythm of the lines are very readable, and they are not bogged down by rhyme and meter. Distinguishing between poetry and prose in this context has to do with layout and punctuation, which are both in the form of free verse. They are easy on the eyes and soft on the heart. Affecting, at times breathtaking, simple, ageless and as clear and brisk as the air on an early morning in a mountain town.
Received a review copy from the author.
Reviewed on Amazon and Goodreads, November 27, 2020

Thanks L.S. Popovich for a favorable review. It is much appreciated.