Review
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Title: Messages on the Water
Author: Merrijane Rice
Self-published poetry. 2017, 73 pages
Reviewed by Steven L. Peck.
There is so much to love about these poems. They reflect a longing for engagement with the deeper resonances life offers– acknowledging faith but offering subtle questions about life’s problems and doubts. In many of the poems she seems to be probing God for explanations about why things are the way they are, and where she fits. Throughout the book, I sensed deep gratitude for gifts that are proffered her from the light that playfully skirts the edges of nearly every poem. Technically, my favorites where the sonnets, which are abundant in the book. However, emotionally I loved her section entitled “Nature” best. My favorite poems in the collection were ‘Ghosts,’ and the Villanelle ‘Sunsets Missed.’