What do you think?
Rate this book
Moonflower Dreams: A Collection of Poetry
Rebecca's poems have a rare beauty. She is completely honest about her experiences and emotions. In this book you will enter the worlds of dreams, reflection, longing, love, loneliness, death, nature and animals, wishes, comfort, friendship, thoughts and conversations, desire and spirituality as experienced by a poet. These poems were written over a period of twenty years. Unlike most poets, Rebecca explains why she wrote the poems.Rebecca Johnson, M.Ed. has appeared in The Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times. She created The Rebecca Review and a website called Seasoned with Love. She has posted over 4,000 reviews at amazon.com. Her writing can be found at hundreds of websites.What readers have had to say about Rebecca's attracts me to poetry is the feeling of being drawn deeply into a visualization or experience of an emotion or situation by a twist of words and associations outside my ordinary language -- a twist that gently sneaks past my "thinking" preference and speaks directly to my "intuition". One that I can welcome and open to, rather than intellectually defend against. Your's did that often. I started to write the names of some that particularly touched me but the list became too long -- plus all the phrases or verses within poems that were engaging. I came away feeling I had just visited a holy space. Thanks so much for your effort, openness and vulnerability to post these!!! I also appreciated the explanations. ~ Q.Moonflower Dreams sings to magical worlds filled with love and awe. Rebecca Johnson chooses vulnerability rarely displayed for all to see and learn from. I found myself truly moved at times... looking at the world with a fresh set of eyes and hopeful once again. Moonflower Dreams is a sweet gem of brilliance and joy poised to adorn your heart. ~ S.
120 pages, Kindle Edition
First published April 7, 2011
1 person is currently reading
6 people want to read
About the author
Rebecca Johnson
229 books11 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
April 21, 2014
First, let me thank the author for very graciously giving me an electronic copy of this book for reviewing purposes.
That taken care of, Moonflower Dreams covers an enormous body of work, apparently spanning some twenty years of writing. Johnson's poetry consists in large part of small shards of personal experience, captured forever in free-form verse like insects in amber. In fact, I find that I can't help but compare her work to Robert Lowell's famous "Life Studies". It would be a mistake to take this comparison too far; Johnson's work is far more the still-life, and less the narrative. But at their core, both Johnson and Lowell are poets who mine the moments; minute, mundane, or Earth-shattering, but always deeply personal. Of course, "deeply personal" does not have to mean heavy or dark. One of my personal favorites from Moonflower Dreams is actually "Meesa" - a rather playful poem about a cat!
There are also times where Johnson appears to conjure these still-life moments purely from imagination. "Now how", you may be wondering, "does he know that"? The answer takes us into one of the more unusual aspects of the current work, and one that I am not entirely sure I agree with. In this book, each poem is followed by a short gloss explaining something of its origins.
Does this add to the reader's experience?
Maybe!
I confess that there were many times when I felt that something of the magic and mystery had been taken away. Perhaps this goes to my own personal "philosophy of poetry" more than anything else. I feel that the greatest poetic works are more invitation than exposition; an invitation to the reader to take his or her own journey of discovery from words on a page to the deeper universals of human experience.
On a similar note, in Moonflower Dreams I very much felt that the poet was at her strongest when the work was almost bordering on the abstract; when she was making the reader do the most work. For this reason my favorite section was actually the first: Nature & Animals.
Regardless of where you stand on such issues, in the end I find that I can't help but come back to the title I gave this review as a whole: A Clear, Elegant Voice. For me at least, that sums up perfectly what you will find within this volume.
And... as the title "Moonflower Dreams" itself suggests, perhaps just a touch of fantasy!
Theo.
That taken care of, Moonflower Dreams covers an enormous body of work, apparently spanning some twenty years of writing. Johnson's poetry consists in large part of small shards of personal experience, captured forever in free-form verse like insects in amber. In fact, I find that I can't help but compare her work to Robert Lowell's famous "Life Studies". It would be a mistake to take this comparison too far; Johnson's work is far more the still-life, and less the narrative. But at their core, both Johnson and Lowell are poets who mine the moments; minute, mundane, or Earth-shattering, but always deeply personal. Of course, "deeply personal" does not have to mean heavy or dark. One of my personal favorites from Moonflower Dreams is actually "Meesa" - a rather playful poem about a cat!
There are also times where Johnson appears to conjure these still-life moments purely from imagination. "Now how", you may be wondering, "does he know that"? The answer takes us into one of the more unusual aspects of the current work, and one that I am not entirely sure I agree with. In this book, each poem is followed by a short gloss explaining something of its origins.
Does this add to the reader's experience?
Maybe!
I confess that there were many times when I felt that something of the magic and mystery had been taken away. Perhaps this goes to my own personal "philosophy of poetry" more than anything else. I feel that the greatest poetic works are more invitation than exposition; an invitation to the reader to take his or her own journey of discovery from words on a page to the deeper universals of human experience.
On a similar note, in Moonflower Dreams I very much felt that the poet was at her strongest when the work was almost bordering on the abstract; when she was making the reader do the most work. For this reason my favorite section was actually the first: Nature & Animals.
Regardless of where you stand on such issues, in the end I find that I can't help but come back to the title I gave this review as a whole: A Clear, Elegant Voice. For me at least, that sums up perfectly what you will find within this volume.
And... as the title "Moonflower Dreams" itself suggests, perhaps just a touch of fantasy!
Theo.
November 3, 2014
5.0 out of 5 stars These Poems Put You in a Pleasant and Reflective Mood
It's hard to describe the calm, gentle feeling that envelopes you when you read Rebecca Johnson's "Moonflower Dreams". You are swept away into another world because of her ability to write poetry that is not angry, like so many poets today. She took me back to the poetry I read for pleasure when I studied it in college. Let me get descriptive to give you an idea of how she makes you feel. You feel like you are taking a shower under a beautiful waterfall in a luscious jungle. It is the kind of poetry you want to read sitting on the beach with the waves lapping at your toes. Or sitting in front of a crackling fire with its flickering lights.
Unlike so many poets today who, in my opinion, have taken the art of poetry out of the realm for which it was intended, she takes you back to the style of poetry that is soft and often explorative. When she exposes in words how she sees her life,you know her thoughts and marvel at her ability to reveal her them with such clarity and purity. She also took the unusual step of explaining what was actually happening in her life that motivated her to write each poem. "Moonflower Dreams" is in my mind now together with the awesome cover art;it's gorgeous and sets the perfect tone for the poetry. I only wish I had a signed copy of the actual book instead of a Kindle download. It's that kind of book.
It's hard to describe the calm, gentle feeling that envelopes you when you read Rebecca Johnson's "Moonflower Dreams". You are swept away into another world because of her ability to write poetry that is not angry, like so many poets today. She took me back to the poetry I read for pleasure when I studied it in college. Let me get descriptive to give you an idea of how she makes you feel. You feel like you are taking a shower under a beautiful waterfall in a luscious jungle. It is the kind of poetry you want to read sitting on the beach with the waves lapping at your toes. Or sitting in front of a crackling fire with its flickering lights.
Unlike so many poets today who, in my opinion, have taken the art of poetry out of the realm for which it was intended, she takes you back to the style of poetry that is soft and often explorative. When she exposes in words how she sees her life,you know her thoughts and marvel at her ability to reveal her them with such clarity and purity. She also took the unusual step of explaining what was actually happening in her life that motivated her to write each poem. "Moonflower Dreams" is in my mind now together with the awesome cover art;it's gorgeous and sets the perfect tone for the poetry. I only wish I had a signed copy of the actual book instead of a Kindle download. It's that kind of book.
July 16, 2011
This book is uniquely written. A collection of poetry with an explanation of the poem and at times the inspiration for the written verse. My formal review is to come.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews