Realistic Poetry International Honest Review
Armor Against the Dawn by D.L. Lang
Within Armor Against the Dawn, poetry becomes a living dialogue between the reader and the evoking poetry of a collection that searches hearts and humanity’s strengths and fallacies. The framework of this collection is built upon searching the human condition, pondering the simplicity of life, as well as the layers of upheaval and change always living within mankind’s action, or his lack thereof.
Poetic Deficits’ brevity is a capsule for wit, edged with poetic reality. The mundane becomes inspirational within the lines of Fine China. We hear the poet discuss an abstract object with yearning and hope, a lovely forage into everyday living. As the author invites the reader beyond simple, crisp lines, the reader moves into a realm of questions regarding living outside of day-to day boundaries. Opening Day invites the reader “to open your mind, remove the filters of your limited experience”.
Just as introspective, is the composition of Deserved World. The opening line “the next generation deserve far better than this word” begins a seeking to understand society’s choices. The introspection continues with From the Children of the Great Recession, and later with Election Reflections, What I Thought Was America and Nothing.
There are other poems filled with meaningful and observant nuances tucked within the first half of the collection. Present Day, Pleasant Day surges with joy and hope. Sunlight, Porch Light, Tonight bears out the truth of contentment, while Muddy Boots, Mirrored Lakes transports the reader into the sublime beauty of nature. Each of these serve as a balance to offset other poems weighted with conflict and poignant reflections.
Nearing the second half of this collection the author picks up a fluid pace with poems woven with a tapestry of religious dialogue and political climate commentary. The Day of Jewish Resistance, Are Jews People, Unreal America, and Endangered Species–Act! are part of this section of poetic narrative. As with the first half of the collection, there are other poems that co-exist with the more mature narratives. Both The Dinner Guest and Curiosity are witty gems, while Possible and Hope’s Demand are beaming with optimism.
As a collection of poems spanning pivotal subjects, Armor Against the Dawn is a complex representation of the poet’s passionate views.
The collection is layered with expressive thought and candid revelations of the poet’s position on multiple current day social events. Insightful, as well as bold, the collection is infused with an underlying theme of a continual searching for answers, for understanding, and for resolution.
As the collection closes, the poet offers a beautiful poem, Stay, that highlights the promise of a better world, a kinder outlook and the reward of closeness that stems from working together. “Understand each other's views. Pay attention to the news. Learn to talk, and to debate. Let experience educate. Arise to a higher fate. We were not meant to live in hate. Love your neighbor before it's too late. Take care of each other. We're all mates. Most of all, dear friends, stay safe.” It’s as if the poet has wrangled with so many ideas, with such feeling and depth, that one of the ending poems brings the reader full circle, back to the poem that opens this collection, Beginnings
“Curled up with a typewriter somewhere in 1994, deciding to be a writer, whether wrong or right or...
Transcribing inner monologues, seeking a return from the fog of dreams that wish to hang out so long that they carry us on like armor against the dawn.”
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