We are sitting upon the wall waiting as the world has taken its downward spiral. The self has become deemed more worthy than the collective being, and we wait on the sidelines for the whole show to crash and burn. From the poetic mind of James F. Miller II we gain a view of a world deteriorating before our very eyes, observations that are felt on a global scale yet, like a dark taboo, are never forefront in discussions or motions of reform. From the poet's pen, we gain the words of several shattered voices that limp through each day, casualties of this unacknowledged war. We share with those narrative voices the glories of their highs, and we swallow that difficult gulp of their pain.
Ghost in the Reflection-Letters to Erin is the sophomore release of this midwestern poet. The first section of the book began originally as a series on Channillo.com titled simply Ghost in the Reflection. There it was a series in the works that addressed the decline of kindness and morality in modern society. It is a collection of observations of a world that by day becomes less the par. A variety of voices tell their stories all outlining a decline in the masses' morals, values, and/or just society in general. These footprints follow the voices and observations of writers many generations before us.
Entitled Letters to Erin, the book's second section boasts poetry that turns from the 3rd person into a narrative that displays those declines of morals and values portrayed in the first half of the book as the thorns they have become in the present-day traditional relationship, the core of any society. It documents the highs and the lows of the daily battles between love and hate, against the backdrop of society's decaying morality. It examines the hurt, the daily struggles, the deceit, betrayal, and the disappointments that arrive in an arrangement such as this. We can find every darker aspect of this decline represented inside the shadows of these brutal wounds, decorated with the harshness of their unfiltered truth. Truly, we rise to a point just above the sun in the highs of these words yet equally feel the skin tear and peel away as it scrapes the concrete slowly, yet forcefully against the knee as we delve deeper alongside their lows.
This collection contains mature topics and adult language not suitable for a younger audience.
"Talking about the writing style of a poet is really a tough thing to do. Most of the poems in this book are written in the third person. One thing I liked most in James' writing is that he loves to see his feelings through the lens of nature. The art of blending human emotions to nature is not everyone's cup of tea. But the poet did it very beautifully using proper words. His way of assigning thoughts to words is so perfect that I couldn't think of replacing a single word of the book". --Kangkan Moni Gayan-KMGReads blog review
"Miller is unafraid to delve into our current political and social climate in all its flaws, passionate love in all its ups and downs, and presents an ode to hope for our future children, that they will learn from our mistakes." --Isabelle Kenyon-Fly on the Wall Poetry
