Evanescent Creature: Poems & Meditations

by Shavawn M. Berry

EVANESCENT Poems & Meditations explores the wisdom & life cycle of women through the archetypes of the wounded/magical/gifted child, the maiden, the mother, and the crone (Divine Feminine). These poems explore birth, sickness, old age, death, and rebirth. In them, Berry unpacks a myriad of experiences that affect and transform women as they move through their lives.

Berry examines the evanescent creature she’s contained since birth, the one who is empathic, sensitive, and fragile in a world that often makes her terrified and exhausted. She reveals the shattered strange beauty of the young woman she a woman as muse, catalyst, & traveler in search of all the errant & lost parts of her most secret self.

She remembers her experience as a daughter, unraveling her longing for more in the face of the pressures of a society that has long wanted women to remain small & stuck living amputated lives. She examines her current role as a caregiver—as her mother’s mother—watching as her mother’s essence disappears and she descends into full-blown dementia.

And finally, she ruminates on her sense of the furious, incandescent, numinous strength of women . She raises her voice in defense of the Divine Feminine nature of life itself, of this earth, and its oceans, forests, and luminous wild animals. Evanescent Creature is a book of searing poems and meditations seeking to offer solace and nourishment to women as they search for answers to the grief and beauty of life.

162 pages, Paperback

Published March 28, 2023

Reviews

[H · Rating 5 out of 5]

Evanescent Creature is a nourishing collection of wit, beauty, and poignancy. Berry’s poems carry the reader through every type of emotional weather—rollicking, heart crushing, scintillating, brooding, enlightening. The dreamscapes that introduce each section surprise the reader into new realizations and provide a supportive bridge to the next thematic encounters. This collection is an invitation to an eclectic, vibrant space filled with unexpected celebrations and meditations. A gift for oneself, as well as others.

[Michael Tucker]

So I want to recommend a book to everyone. I received Shavawn M. Berry’s new collection, EVANESCENT CREATURE, as a gift. It is a remarkable read, full of poetry that is thoughtful yet moving, sophisticated but not pretentious, and accessible without being simplistic. This is definitely a work for anyone interested in where American poetry is going in this century.

[Jan Goglio · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lyrical collection of poetry about life and its questions, rewards, and challenges beautifully written with deep understanding, appreciation, humor and wisdom. You will recognize yourself and your life in these verses and you will want to read it straight through more than once. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

[Mitch · Rating 5 out of 5]

Berry's voice is savage and mystical and achingly deep. Her words will cut you deep, but then become the very balm to heal your wounds. She is an extraordinary talent and a remarkable poet.

[Books Reviewer! · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book is a collection of poems about the wisdom of women and reflects on a variety of issues. As Wordsworth has said, "Poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions recollected in tranquillity." This book is a perfect example of this definition. It is an exploration of the inner spirit which is different from all the others. Even though the world is filled with hatred, she is spreading positive emotions all around.

The poems are written on a variety of themes. It is like they cover a full cycle of birth rebirth and everything that comes in between. There is a conflict between the inner self and the outer self. Certain things have to be contained within and a different front has to be presented in front of people because that is just how the world is. The creature within her seems to be fleeting in the terrifying world and she has contained it within her. It is a metaphor for all the qualities she has but never really had. The poem is also an ode to the woman she once was and she feels like she is just a shattered version of that person. It is almost surprising to read about all the parts of herself that she lost along the way. The book also narrates her experiences as a daughter and takes her through the journey up to where she is now, as a caregiver to her mother. There have been too many struggles for Berry but she wants to help others find confidence in themselves.

This book is like a series of meditations that can show women how to tap into their inner strength. The poems are written in a simple yet beautiful language. It details all how the struggles of women get revealed and reading it in the form of poems just enhances the beauty of it.

[Catherine Schweig · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shavawn M. Berry’s luxuriant verse in Evanescent Creature: Poems & Meditations, forges nuanced pathways into ancient themes surrounding both the ubiquitous and hidden nature of the feminine. Her masterfully poised hymns to the cyclical nature of life overflow with possibilities in worlds where clouds become begonias, oceans underwater cathedrals, dresses blackbirds. In an eventful literary cornucopia of cultures and traditions, Berry also strolls us past Kuan Yin, Lilith, Selkies and Sophia, into the dark beauty she conjures when poems become “dangerous things” exposing scars, opening wounds. Here, grazing the ghastly gives rise to the emphatic, and skillfully slicing into the forbidden catalyzes sighs. With ancestral inspiration and luminous artistry, we witness Berry step into the prophetic role imparted upon her by a Grandmother Spider in one of her poems, and powerfully spin evocative personal narratives, at times laced with delightful didactic panache. Ironically, there is nothing ephemeral about the effect of reading Berry’s poetry collection, which lingers with the reader long after its ingestion, like scents inhabit ether on a midsummer night. An unmistakably dazzling debut!

[Elissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shavawn M. Berry takes you on a distinctly feminine journey from a young child through the wisdom of adult years. Rediscovering one's self over and over again while both honoring and letting go of the past and moving forward and away from burdens and undue obligations. She weaves prose making the connectiveness of our female ancestors tangible. Berry's collection of poems and meditations is a lovely reminder to love yourself and others freely and abundantly and not being bound by our inherited obstacles and fear.

[Darragha Foster · Rating 5 out of 5]

Leap without looking. Evanescent Creature is a collection of shiver-inducing poems and meditations that will leave you to ponder, wonder, and marvel as you wander through the almost synesthesia-inducing warm embrace of words. - Darragha Foster, Author of Love's Second Sight.