Shadows Chasing Light

by Brian Bowers

Many times, the strength and emotional impact of an artist's work is measured by the manner in which they unveil the delicate, fragile and most vulnerable parts of themselves. Through this process, they take their audience on a journey of sights and sounds, boldly exploring a wide range of human expressions and emotions. As they weave in and out of the brighter and darker aspects of reality, these expressions draw heavily from the dense core of one's psyche and elemental nature. Who we are and how we relate to the world speaks volumes of our person before words have formed.

Shadows Chasing Light is a poetic narrative written in a literary tradition that deeply explores the experiences, challenges and triumphs of a soul in the midst of revelation—a revelation of itself. Capturing snapshots of grief, happiness, unrequited love and an infinite longing for the formless unseen, the work is built upon central themes of awakening, remembrance and reconnecting to one's soul purpose. In this work, Brian Bowers offers us an invitation on a journey to rediscover, reclaim and remember oneself through honest and raw creative expression—shared from his soul to yours.

59 pages, Hardcover

First published December 3, 2012

About the author

Born and raised in Houston, Texas, self-published author and freelance writer Brian Bowers is a high honors graduate of Oberlin College. After studying in Cairo, Egypt, Bowers was drawn to the idea of sustaining and unifying diverse cultures through all forms of creative expression. With a title inspired by a line from Rabindranath Tagore’s Gitanjali Bowers’ first work, Shadows Chasing Light, is a poetic narrative exploring a wide range of emotions and experiences.

In addition to writing, the self-proclaimed ‘multi-medium’ artist is also a singer, pianist and amateur photographer. The author currently resides in Houston, but looks forward to exploring the world through art and creativity while broadening his knowledge of spirituality and the human experience.

Reviews

[Shelly Hammond · Rating 5 out of 5]

I write quite a few reviews and it’s a very rare occasion indeed that I can’t find the words to describe what I’ve just read. Sure, there are times that I don’t want to tell the reader certain things so that they must read things for themselves (which of course I will continue to do so that they don’t get lazy and only read reviews and not read the books!) but reading something and coming away from it without having words to describe it… well, that’s something I’m not used to but that is just what happened when I read and finished this book. I’ll explain that as I get into the actual review!

This is, in short, a book of poetry. In a better and longer description though it is a book of poetry that is written in a way that will reach out and grab you, the reader, and pull you right in. It’s touching, beautifully written, sentimental, and will just take your breath away. As you read you will find yourself drawn to certain poems that you will read over and over because you will relate to something in them. I have a feeling this will be true of almost everyone if not every single person who takes the time to read this book (and it is well worth reading).

I really won’t give a single thing away because even if I did, it really wouldn’t be of any use because you need to read these for yourself and take away from each one what you will. This takes this entire review full circle back to the initial thought of this being a very rare occasion where I can’t find the words to describe what I’ve just read. I can say these poems are very well written and the author has an amazing skill, talent, genius, or whatever it may be, he’s got it when it comes to mastery of words. Thing is, I can’t tell you about each poem because I think that you need to read them for yourself and find your own meaning within the beauty of the words that are written and you need to take away what you need to take away from each one. Each poem seems so very personal and special that I believe each can be the same to the individual reader thus it’s really hard for me to put into words an accurate description of what I read, for the first time ever!

I hope all of that made sense, but even if it didn’t, I still had a lot to say about the book because it was brilliant and the author is an exceptional writer who has a way of reaching out through the written word to touch the emotions of the masses. The poems are all beautifully written and I would recommend this book to just about anyone who can appreciate the poetic word.

[Carmen Blalock · Rating 5 out of 5]

Words are what make the world go around and when used properly the world is a happier place. That is what you will find in Shadows Chasing Light, the words spoken here are words that we can relate to on any given day. This book of poetry speaks of love, love lost and found love but it speaks it in a way that you can feel in your soul and that is what poetry is all about. There are so many familiar sentiments in this book I felt like it was my life story but I do believe that by far my favorite, at least one of them was the poem titled Seeing Those Eyes, I had to stop and reflect after reading that one. That is what good writing is, when the author brings you along for the ride with them. I enjoyed reading, feeling this book as I am sure that everyone will also. Thank you Mr. Bowers, keep up the good work and I am looking forward to reading more from you.