Lifting Stones by Doug Stanfield

Doug Stanfield’s poems, dedicated to the memory of his wife, will warm the heart. Doug’s verse uncovers raw emotions and focuses on grief or the absence of love, fusing in humor and incorporating a profound longing for something just out of reach. As the book opens with the poem ‘Memory’, the poet states memory as a dusty element that gets erased over the period of time and is “not-quite-living museum of our lives", portraying the restlessness one experiences when memories get faded away and simultaneously provoking one to move on and “claim your rebirth".

‘Love in the Time of Corona’, expresses immense anguish and disappointment as in these tough times one misses the one who was loved the most.

In ‘Epitaph’, the poet brings out the gruesomeness of death and the affliction which is left as the only residue through the following lines: “We heard them slam / in the storm of your going".

The book covers poems under particular themes named MEMORIES, GRIEFS AND LOSSES, and TURNING POINTS but are connected with one another through a common string of grief and sorrow. Stanfield’s robust language is remarkable and the way he evokes such powerful emotions must be contemplated by the reader.

                                                                                                                                                   --- Rochak Agarwal