“The night I die, be by my sideMy final thoughts I’ll in you hideThe night I die, please hold my handThat I might with the angels stand”In this stunning collection of poems, Seth Masek takes us on a journey from darkness into light, and in between are the shades where most of us reside. The collection is divided into four chapters: Judgment, Pain, Love, and Hope, allowing us to venture into the … us to venture into the chapter that matches our needs at any given time. We journey from the brutality of judgments to the deepest of pains to the beauty of love and the highest of hopes. From being lost in self-doubt, we emerge in healing to find love and ultimately the inspiration to fully live. Penned by a gifted and honest poet, the collection delves deeply into the most powerful elements of our emotional core and the bedrock of our humanity.
more
If you’ve been carefully following my reviews (and we know you have!) you’ve heard me discuss two reading ‘things’ that have entered my life. The first was my rediscovery of enjoying poetry. The second was my late, late, late discovery of NetGalley.
Through NetGalley, I found a number of great books and was auto approved through a few different promotion companies. Through one of these companies, I stumbled upon a book with a stunning cover – “Mythics” by Seth Masek. I read the synopsis and found it was a book of poetry. I snagged it and thoroughly enjoyed it.
A short time after reviewing the book, the author reached out and thanked me, which was very kind. He also mentioned he had a second book of poetry called “Ex Nihilo” and where Mythics had been upbeat and positive, Ex Nihilo was darker and closer to the horror realm. We did a book swap and he kindly sent this one over. As of writing this review, I’ve now seen it pop up on NetGalley (May 2019).
As the author mentioned – Ex Nihilo is definitely a different beast than Mythics. The two collections work well as a Ying and Yang or light and dark pairing.
Ex Nihilo is broken into four parts – Judgement, Pain, Hope and Love and the book follows this narrative really faithfully.
I did find that while reading through the Judgement and Pain section, I felt a kinship between the poems and the movies Prometheus and Alien: Covenant. It wasn’t any direct references, it was more specifically phrasing and wording. Masek does a great job of really connecting with the reader and ensuring that the poems resonant, while still remaining ambiguous in their exact nature.
For me, poetry works best when the poem itself has its own purpose. The specific poem will either be completely vague or completely direct. I’m not a fan when it goes back and forth, sometimes within a few sentences, but Seth makes sure that every entry here was created to have its own place within this collection and it really is outstanding.
The other thing I really enjoy with poetry is when the poet doesn’t come off as though they are trying too hard, trying to sound academic for poetry’s sake and never once did I feel this. Masek writes from the heart and it allows the stanzas to really bounce along to the rhythm of their own beat.
In a collection of short stories, I’ll often have a favourite or two and will point them out. Personally, for me, poetry collections are different. The poems connect with each reader in their own way and while a few of them were elevated above the others, for me those were personal reasons. I’ll just say for each reader that checks out this collection, you’ll find a few poems you’ll bookmark and read again.
I think this collection would be a really great starting off point for horror fans or dark fiction fans who want to get back into reading poetry. For current and long-term fans of poetry, this will be a great addition to your collection.