This book has astonishing contents which basically comprise of Christine’s childhood as in Resemblance to Great Grandmother…

This book has astonishing contents which basically comprise of Christine’s childhood as in Resemblance to Great Grandmother…

This book has astonishing contents which basically comprise of Christine’s childhood as in Resemblance to Great Grandmother…

Christine’s work has been published in Connections Literary Magazine, Contemporary American Voices, a journal of poetry and Paterson Literary Review:”Napkins and Chinatown”. Wow! Congratulations, Christine. We wish you all success for future and look forward to many more such publications.

Amazon USA      

Christine’s work has been published in Connections Literary Magazine, Contemporary American Voices, a journal of poetry and Paterson Literary Review:”Napkins and Chinatown”.  Wow! Congratulations, Christine.  We wish you all success for future and look forward to many more such publications.

 

This book has astonishing contents which basically comprise of Christine’s childhood as in Resemblance to Great Grandmother, “Finding roots linked to native Indian, brushing back the tall grass that reveals her name, remembering the photograph and being in her arms as a newborn, how history lies in the books decorated on the bookshelves, and finally asking to whisper some words of courage as she penned in Indian Girl is just mind blowing”.  These lines are so awesomely penned on how every girl looks forward to gain a foothold on the legacy left by our older generation, and in A View to the Rif Mountains of Morocco, “On sunny days the light shines through pink tulips, the emerald green, the amber, the white.  There are things that should be seen through screens-my father’s sickness, his vulnerability, his visions of Jesus telling him he can walk again”, and in Napkins and Chinatown, “Papa, wherever you are now, I hope you have forgiven the teenager who lost her way, hope you found the son you lost, hope there is a crackle in the atmosphere, a small fire that stirs me, back home”.

She has penned beautiful lines which are profound and out of her experience in her growing-up and parenting stages. “I am walking towards the Ferris Wheel and Merry Go Round lights, the squeals and laughter, the hallways built of people, the hellos and the look aways, thinking about ice cream or the beer tent, navigating the highs and lows of losing 24 years to helicopter parenting” and Our friends and their children are buried in their phones, my son is playing with his fork, I survey the diner décor heavy on a 50’s theme, we are in Virginia hoping to escape everything that encumbers us” as in At the Pink Cadillac Diner are some of her memories as a Parent deeply looking into her past.

 

It does include some humor too which I got to read in her lines in What Medicare Won’t Cover, “Have another hamburger, he’d argue at family barbecues insulted at pleas that we are full and fine.  We can’t move him when he is sick, it takes 4 strapping young men, takes lifts and chairs all while he’s spitting venom at the price of his ride to the hospital”.  These lines are so straight and to the point on how one should be vigilant about our health and how it is our prime responsibility to ensure that we don’t land ourselves into an overweight situation.

Walking the Cemetry, “Here is the cemetery I face crosses, I face mortality.  What do I know about burdens and blood?  What do I know about removing thorns from thistle?”  Some deep questioning she does to herself; I loved these lines.  I am sure that each one of us come across these questions as and when we visit cemeteries or are a part of such occasions.  These instances force us to question life for which the only answer is that we are here on this Earth with a particular time validity!  I found these lines extremely philosophical and so true.

Almost all the the Authors I have come across and for whom I wrote reviews have expressed their thoughts on this world-wide epidemic called Corona.  You will find her lines in all simplicity as she wrote “What does the coronavirus mean? We will cross the street when we see others approaching or that if they see us first, they will cross the street.  It means that I will call my seventy-six year old mother twice a day to see how she is doing”, and In Where We Nest, “It is the first warm day since the Covid virus; I have weaved in and out of bikers, dogwalkers, here the music vibrates from backyards.  We are free in the open air though we wear masks, stay covered”.

 

One vivid memory as in Rescue, on how she rescued a crane and cradled and balanced it on her lap while she rode her bike home.  Christine, that was so sweet and human of you to rescue the bird and I could clearly envision that scene on how difficult it must have been for you to reach home.

Melancholy is a bad and a tiring word which I feel but she has put it so nicely in her Fighting Melancholy, “Had I thought my summer friends from the Bronx would disappear into adulthood, I would have understood bees nest and gather and hives answer”.  Mind full of memories from the past (all inclusive like childhood, growing-up, adult stage and the old age) troubles us all the times because the truth behind memories is that they don’t change!  In I am invisible, “An ordinary day in a small town of well-wishers and bureaucrats.  I am in no hurry for the day to begin or start” depicts her simplicity and unhurriedness towards life.

Her 51 expressions seemed to me very humble, simple, straight to the point and full of her memories which will walk the Readers through different stages of her life.  There are many more poems left to uncover and I will urge the Readers to see life through her eyes, as well.  Altogether it’s an awesome creation.  Christine, we wish you all the very best and pray that your book travels miles and miles creating its own benchmark.

 

Regards,

Shubhaangi Kundalkar

Author, Justaju-in search of life

Insta handle: window-to-my-heart