Stars in the Junkyard by Sharon Berg

Her poems are categorized in four quadrants; Drawing Maps, Boundaries, Oracle and Odyssey.  That was something which I found very unique because all the words are synonymous to Geography.  Her poem Drawing our Maps is very artistically written which looks like a drawing.  “I am mapping the unit areas within internal shadows, the incandescence of opportunity and accomplishment absent when self-doubt inks the veins” are some interesting lines.

“Honesty is more than not lying.  It is truth telling, truth speaking, truth living and truth loving” I very much liked to read the lines written by James E. Faust. This means Honesty indeed is a big word which carries lot of weight.

In Difficult, “I am difficult, I write to understand truth in the development of human relations.  I speak to my own experience.  Allow me my voice”.

Marvelous writing indeed!  Poets and Writers do need a voice to ink their thoughts.

Some of her poems were featured in audio recordings.  Four of her poems bagged 2nd prize in 2017 GritLit Writing Contest and two poems received Honorable Mention in the Stellar Literary Festival for 2007 and 2008.  Congratulations Sharon for your glorious achievements, and hope that there will be many more to come your way. 

“In loving, the song of the universe fills us to overflowing.  We become the third sphere and axis between the physical and spiritual worlds.  Love is both our anchor and our progression, a pure light to pry the narrow door to another soul”, as in Entregarse is very articulately penned down which speaks volumes of the emotion called Love.  In Unfreezing, other facet of love so beautifully written. “You whisper my name and it stills me with snowflakes like rice in my hair melting, as your eyes unfreeze me “. 

“Sugar started the trans-Atlantic routes of ships, marking the map of slavery for sugar cane that grew on hot and humid lands but sweetened afternoon tea and treated the highborn with fancy cakes and pastries” in Sugar narrates the tales of slavery.  In Servitude, “My grandmother was a slave who never returned to Ireland losing touch with her birth family growing into a bitter woman who manipulated family connections.  I hold no grudges loving her for surviving and her few tender moments”.  Life of slaves that she has penned down is very touching, and it was her own grandmother.  Her poem Coming of Age also is very touching and worth reading.  

Sharon’s love for Nature is much evident in her writings in Rainforest: Vancouver 1999, and In New Year’s Day as she describes, “Sky like an Esher etching, flocks of birds turn on the axis of their flight like schools of fish flashing silver under clouds”.

The Dream, “This is what I wanted to tell you.  I went back to bed while the baby napped and in dream I rose from my body to find you in your kitchen.   Then I woke to the baby crying announcing it was time to be getting on with things”, and in Tantrum, “I lie beside her, she crawls up like a newborn rooting for the breast, her tiny fist clenched, hitting out her sobs ragged as an old man’s breath”. Most mundane everyday jobs too are so well expressed.

Where the next generation stops on its track to not flourish is awesome as she pens in Prophesy, “I understand the dream I had when I was twelve as a prophesy-the tree in the pool no branches sprouting leaves and your sons had no children so your branch of the family has left the gene pool”. 

Dust to Dust, “If we are made from dust, I would like to think we are the dust of grain, crushed by the weight of earth in the up-turned bowl of the sky.  And if we return to dust, I would like to be sowed in fields like grain on the hard red clay.  Perhaps I will stand as tall as corn in a sun-ripening field before returning to the bowl”.  These lines will stay with me because of their philosophical touch and they are so very true.

This book is like a gummy bear box which holds everything together; family, mundane everyday tasks, nature, slavery, and philosophy.  Just like different colors of the gummy bears.  You open the box, eat one, and then the other and you can go on to relish her writing.  Go ahead Readers, and show your love and support to Sharon.  It’s worth reading.  Sharon, we wish you all the very best for future and look forward to see your next wonderful creation and pray that your book creates an astounding fan following.

Regards,

Shubhaangi Kundalkar

Author, Justaju-in search of life

Insta handle: window-to-my-heart