'My song is a shovel against the dirt':
A review of Asleep Inside Mania by Nelson Miranda
Reading these enigmatically titled poems by Nelson Miranda aka @alive-inside-ink, what is immediately apparent is the atmosphere. A world is built out of sound and imagery, where rhymes subtly underline meaning and rhythms give a trance-like feel.
Dreamlike scenes are intercut with images that form a vivid, alternative reality. Because each title is of an entity, "The Wolf", "The Truth", "The Highway", "The Wish", it’s as if each poem is an introduction, a development of a character perceived through the speaker's eyes.
There is often a sense of eternal truths told with the quiet intensity of a tale passed on down ages, as in "The Samurai":
Upon the wings of a glorious phoenix The flames fuse together tattered skin Filled with a new found vigor Melding glory over an abundance of sin
Breaking deep into the encampment Crashing down from the skies above This forged steel shall taste victory Emptying my heart of misguided love
A restless darkness that permeates these poems, but it is always lyrical:
From "The Mathematician":
A tenth of me is utterly broken Trenching through devoid marshlands The hourglass splintered against time As palm races to catch dwindling sand
The world delineated here is one that is absolutely worth immersing yourself in. There is a thorough sense of inspiration, of the language tripping a switch which leads to more poetry automatically forming in the reader's mind.
The idea of an empty final page on which to add a response of your own is entirely fitting. This was the poem I found myself writing:
The Present
(by Marinca @quaintobsessions in response to Asleep Inside Mania)
They are often shaped like houses, these nightmare traces from the past, stories of chasing a low light down the stairs and into the crowd.
Every face perceived and loved again, forgiveness is inherent in each presence, the ability to speak the language of memory, leaves the mind's door ajar.
I have walked across the creaking floors of this song played at the edge of reason and found its rhythms strangely soothing, slow unravelling the making of it.
I heartily recommend you go here and add your own poem to the final pages of Asleep Inside Mania.