“Snapshots” By Bee Parkinson - Cameron
An artist that works in pictures, a poet who writes poems in snapshots both seem to go together.
Amazon USA“Snapshots”
By Bee Parkinson - Cameron
Copyright 2021
26 pages
ISBN: 978-93-90601-51-6
Cyberwit
www.cyberwit.net
Review by LB Sedlacek
An artist that works in pictures, a poet who writes poems in snapshots both seem to go together. Do you remember the Polaroid camera and others like it? That camera was intended to take pictures, nothing more much like Parkinson-Cameron seems suited to write these verses that fill these pages.
Her poems illustrate bits, snippets of the every day realization of how different one looks with aging, unpleasant relationships, beauty and more. Each line takes time to develop much like one of those cameras that takes pictures and you have to stand around flapping the paper as you wait for the image to appear.
From the poem “A Stranger Sky”: “You look at the dark sky / and see an absence of stars, / no glittering diamonds / embedded in the shawl of night.” A rich tapestry of words encompasses these lines. It makes me wonder if I should take more time to look at the night sky than I do.
From the poem “Be Brave”: “Be brave even when you feel the anxiety twisting like a snake in /
your belly.” Parkinson-Cameron gives us lines with a twist unexpected. It’s hard to read this and not think of a snake crawling around inside your stomach.
Her poems hit to the heart of the matter attempting to make change, to enlighten to re-frame things so that they are better. These poems give you the feeling that sometimes those who seem unlikely to do well will get that opportunity if they simply persevere. From the poem “Conform or Die”: “There are the ordinary people / They are all around you / So stand up, don’t be shy now / Come on and take a bow. In the court of average living / Standing on display like a prize fish / Your oddity is catch of the day / On the menu, you’re the main dish.”
These poems have a heart pounding tone while reminding you how fragile humans really are. The array of images is vibrant and full – she uses the kind that make you stop and think, and then think some more.
There are some sentimental poems in this collection, too about motherhood, walking in the sand and also for the sun rising. For instance, she tends to hit right at the heart of the subject with a poem all about how cell phones are used for everything but as a phone, which of course is so true Do you use your cell phone as a phone very often? Her poem on this very real dilemma is called “Hey xxx.” Clever title.
Parkinson-Cameron has created a enthralling collection complete with poems that make an impact, and fun poems as well. Always authentic, I like the way her poems tackle the beauty in life, but also how they show the underbelly to things that aren’t so great as well.
Take the poem “Memories Box” for example. It is a cautious poem. One can easily imagine sitting there along with the narrator opening this box of memories.
There is purpose to her poetry. There are also significant words, lines, and verses. She has chosen her poems well to put in this scrapbook that makes up her poetry book.
Parkinson-Cameron has had work published in anthologies. This is her first poetry collection.
~LB Sedlacek is the author of the poetry collections “The Blue Eyed Side,” “Simultaneous Submissions” and “The Poet Next Door.” She writes poetry reviews for “The Poetry Market Ezine” www.thepoetrymarket.com