The Ebbing Tide By Carlos Reyes

The Ebbing Tide

By Carlos Reyes

64 pages

ISBN: 978-81-8253-794-1

Cyberwit

Copyright 2021

 

Review by LB Sedlacek

 

Carlos Reyes writes beautiful soothing poems in this new collection.  This is the kind of poetry you want to have read to you with instrumental music playing in the background.  There’s a big connection between the words and one’s soul and between the verses and Mother Nature.

 

It’s like a travel log of words and emotions, images and imagination.  There are so many things going on in each poem – that makes each one uniquely interesting.

 

From the poem “Remnant from the Carving Shed”:

“I carry in my pocket

this chip of cedar

to anoint my hand,

for luck, a memory.”

 

This poem is about a “soulful fragment.”  It’s almost like a good luck charm.

 

Poetry should make you feel good while you read it, or make you think, or simply stir your motivations, emotions or all of that together.  Reyes has definitely achieved that with his book of poems.

 

From the title poem “The Ebbing Tide”:

“leaves behind thousands of herring eggs

on strips of seaweed along the rocky shore

to let the sun finish the hatching.

//

I walk along until I realize

I’m treading on future generations of herring.

Were I a Buddhist I would be horrified…”

 

This poem is about a poacher who isn’t horrified by his/her poaching.   The narrator of the poem refers to himself as a thoughtless ex-fisherman.

 

There are moments everywhere in these poems.  The visualizations are contagious.  You may think the poems are only scratching the surface, but there’s so much more beneath each word.  Layers upon layers of poem storytelling come to light with each read of each poem.

 

This is a serene but triumphant book of poems.  Reyes has a intelligent voice, one that you’ll want to read more of.

 

 

 

~LB Sedlacek is the author of the poetry collections “I’m No ROBOT,” “This Space Available,” “Words and Bones,” “The Blue Eyed Side,” “Simultaneous Submissions,” “Swim,” and “The Poet Next Door.”  Her non-fiction books include “The Poet Protection Plan” and “Electric Melt:  How to Write, Publish, Read Walt Whitman and Survive as a Writer and Poet).  Her short story collection is entitled “Four Thieves of Vinegar & Other Short Stories.”  She writes poetry reviews for  www.thepoetrymarket.com  You can find out more:  www.lbsedlacek.com