DAILY PHOTO: Clouds & Sky, Siquijor
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BOOK REVIEW: Home by Julio Anta
Home, Vol. 1 by Julio AntaMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
Amazon.in Page
Out: November 23, 2021
This book starts out with a gripping premise, a single mother and her son separated at the border, the mother being deported back to Guatemala as the son makes his way to the home of his aunt in Texas. The story shows a great deal of promise in the introductory issue. Unfortunately, over the course of the volume, all of the tension that is painstakingly built up is squandered. Whenever there is a challenging and visceral circumstance a new set of random superpowers is revealed, such that by the fifth and final issue, one no longer feels the protagonist is in peril (regardless of circumstance) because it’s a given that some deus ex machina magic will come along to save the day.
What’s sad is that, other than the crippling problems of anti-climactic story, the book shows many positive attributes. It’s well drawn. The book builds characters for whom the reader is rooting. Emotion is effectively portrayed. I think if the superpowers had been introduced upfront with some understanding of limitations and “kryptonite,” there would have been potential for an enjoyable read. As it is, however, it’s exactly the opposite of what one would like – a book that gets more and more intense – as resolutions come too easily.
It’s an impassioned, if not nuanced, view of immigration issues, and – if that’s enough for you – you might be interested in checking it out.
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Dark Realization
A bad moment for those growing up during the peace years is the realization that there were no peace years.
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DAILY PHOTO: St. Francis, Kochi
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Tropical Chill [Haiku]
feet to cold stone - despite the tropical heat, a chill is felt
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In Praise of Multiplicity [Free Verse]
Everybody seeks oneness, but maybe one with everything is too much, it's a state in which one is lost, irrelevant, and unloved - all at once. Maybe it's better to be tied to the mast - like Odysseus - straining to make that dangerous connection, but unable to, the connection of non-connection, the love of longing, of trying, but not of being plugged in -- air-gapped to prevent resonance at a frequency that would shatter one's soul.
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Sea Gate [Free Verse]
The gate faced the sea. It seemed like a strange place for a gate. The sea spray of crashing waves flew up to douse those who passed through. Which way was in? Which way was out? And then I accepted that "in" & "out" were meaningless constructs, and that it was a portal between infinities.
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DAILY PHOTO: White Sand Beach, Isla Mujeres
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Wide Open Spaces [Free Verse]
out of my cell & onto the trail i walk the vast expanse, the vault of heaven above & hills of rolling green beneath my feet and clouds barge through blue skies like thoughts barge through my mind - sluggishly but inevitably
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Deep Dive [Common Meter]
To those who cling tenaciously to their own sanity: How much freedom can the sane have? How much humanity? Where's the freedom in not shouting your truth when/where you can? In pretending that the uni- verse has some sort of plan? Freedom lies in learning to ride the chaos to the depths, and learning how one can breathe denied the air for breaths.
Tiger Riding for Beginners 