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Forty-Five Seconds: A Chapbook
Joschua Beres presents intimate portraits of lived experience in the form of poetry as well contemplative speculations from the margins on humanity and its future impact. His poems function as vivid snapshots that guide the reader without completely elucidating the situation and touch on such varied themes as love, war, society, domestic violence, the colonization of the Moon and loss.
25 pages, ebook
First published January 8, 2014
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About the author
Joschua Beres
5 books4 followersJoschua is a Texan of French-Creole, Acadian, Choctaw, English, Irish, and German descent who is a veteran of the US Air Force and the US Army. He has previously been published by Literary Orphans, Bohemia Literary and Art Journal and anthologies.
He is a member of The Writer's Studio at Simon Fraser University and currently lives in Denver, Colorado with his chihuahua Django Reinhardt and kitten Aleister Crowley.
He is a member of The Writer's Studio at Simon Fraser University and currently lives in Denver, Colorado with his chihuahua Django Reinhardt and kitten Aleister Crowley.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 17, 2014
While most poetry collections include a contents page, not all include a contents page that reads like a poem. It is testament to the power of Beres’ voice that the titles form a poem of their own.
This collection of ten poems has been compiled from Beres’ opus with the intention something of him “…will survive past my earthy existence and the cruelty of time” and opens with an apology that they have not been polished over and over again. Beres need have no worries on either account.
The collection contains works of various lengths, from two stanzas to over three pages, covering both very personal experiences and world-wide issues, but all united by an underlying joy in language.
wake up!the mystics say.
there is a piece of God inside us all!
somewhere, hiding like some prize
at the bottom of a box of cracker jack’s
so, here I stand, ready before you.
tired. desperate hands
gripping the sink’s edge waiting
to catch an imperfect glance of God.
or the perception of it.
another hour crossed. I chuckle.
perhaps the lighting is bad.
- conversation with a mirror
Contrary to Beres’ fear that the poems are unfinished, they display a deft control of emotion. Both my childhood was always avoiding landmines and under the orange tree deal with complex feelings about a father, but their subjects, domestic violence and honoured death, are very different; that each sounds true showcases not only Beres’ empathy, but also his ability to share it.
His voice is equally mature when speaking of Western Society, or even humanity as a whole. The mixture of theology and informal language in both sun-fed stone and the cult of Democracy hurls out links horizontally and vertically, painting questions as both relevant now and in the long-term, and to us all.
we are 90% water and we are 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit,
get a good fever and that is close enough to boiling
you know, turning into steam.
- spontaneously combusting at the wonder of it all
It is this wholehearted embrace of informality that might prove this collections least accessible point. With only light punctuation and almost no capitalisation, readers used to more traditional writing have no easy access to the words below. While this is not the transitory chirp of attention-starved youth, the instinctive identification with text messages might drive away some who would enjoy the words if only they stayed.
Perhaps Beres does not seek their gaze though; maybe even rejects it. we should all live like the atomic bomb sets out a radical thesis that anything of value is an instant seizure of new life; spending hours waiting for a connection might be anathema.
I enjoyed this collection. I recommend it to reader’s who are seeking a collection to pick up and put down, to experience each poem for itself in the time it takes to read it.
This collection of ten poems has been compiled from Beres’ opus with the intention something of him “…will survive past my earthy existence and the cruelty of time” and opens with an apology that they have not been polished over and over again. Beres need have no worries on either account.
The collection contains works of various lengths, from two stanzas to over three pages, covering both very personal experiences and world-wide issues, but all united by an underlying joy in language.
wake up!the mystics say.
there is a piece of God inside us all!
somewhere, hiding like some prize
at the bottom of a box of cracker jack’s
so, here I stand, ready before you.
tired. desperate hands
gripping the sink’s edge waiting
to catch an imperfect glance of God.
or the perception of it.
another hour crossed. I chuckle.
perhaps the lighting is bad.
- conversation with a mirror
Contrary to Beres’ fear that the poems are unfinished, they display a deft control of emotion. Both my childhood was always avoiding landmines and under the orange tree deal with complex feelings about a father, but their subjects, domestic violence and honoured death, are very different; that each sounds true showcases not only Beres’ empathy, but also his ability to share it.
His voice is equally mature when speaking of Western Society, or even humanity as a whole. The mixture of theology and informal language in both sun-fed stone and the cult of Democracy hurls out links horizontally and vertically, painting questions as both relevant now and in the long-term, and to us all.
we are 90% water and we are 98.6 degrees Fahrenheit,
get a good fever and that is close enough to boiling
you know, turning into steam.
- spontaneously combusting at the wonder of it all
It is this wholehearted embrace of informality that might prove this collections least accessible point. With only light punctuation and almost no capitalisation, readers used to more traditional writing have no easy access to the words below. While this is not the transitory chirp of attention-starved youth, the instinctive identification with text messages might drive away some who would enjoy the words if only they stayed.
Perhaps Beres does not seek their gaze though; maybe even rejects it. we should all live like the atomic bomb sets out a radical thesis that anything of value is an instant seizure of new life; spending hours waiting for a connection might be anathema.
I enjoyed this collection. I recommend it to reader’s who are seeking a collection to pick up and put down, to experience each poem for itself in the time it takes to read it.
February 11, 2014
Joschua Beres’ “Forty-Five Seconds” collects ten poems that seek order and healing from heartbreaking, destructive circumstances. Themes include abusive relationships, forces of nature, war, and terroristic attacks. It’s a relatively quick read and the language is down-to-earth and flows easily off the page. The confessional tone draws the reader deftly into his deeply-shaded world.
Some of my favorite passages are “They say when we sleep / we are students of the dream. / we are teachers of the dream. / I dream sometimes / of sending the Moon back in pieces” and from his final poem “we should live like an atom bomb / shaking our souls into thunder clouds / singing electric hallelujah praises.”
Some of my favorite passages are “They say when we sleep / we are students of the dream. / we are teachers of the dream. / I dream sometimes / of sending the Moon back in pieces” and from his final poem “we should live like an atom bomb / shaking our souls into thunder clouds / singing electric hallelujah praises.”
January 23, 2014
I almost gave this book three stars, but settled on four, deciding that just because I prefer shorter poems, it's no reason to take a star away.
Joschua's poems are somehow both personal, but universal, the stuff of souls and stars. His use of language is striking in some places and subtle in others. It's a great little chapbook.
Joschua's poems are somehow both personal, but universal, the stuff of souls and stars. His use of language is striking in some places and subtle in others. It's a great little chapbook.
February 4, 2014
Reviewed by Rich Follett for Readers' Favorite:
"Forty-five Seconds by Joschua Beres is not for the faint of heart. The themes explored within its richly polished lines are dark, deeply personal, courageous and ultimately heartrending. This slender volume contains a minefield of indelible images and confessional turns of phrase that readers will not easily forget.
In order to fully comprehend the depth and intensity of this collection of poems, it should be noted that the ‘forty-five seconds’ of the title refers to the length of time it took for the atom bomb to fall before decimating Hiroshima. There is a pervasive sense of abandonment throughout Forty-five Seconds that might serve to depress readers were it not for the underlying, interwoven thread of resilient optimism that accompanies the gloom. In ‘under the orange tree,’ we catch a glimpse of the golden, molten core of Beres’ poetic sun: “her eyes were once the dance of/quasars and nebulae/as they always are for the young and in love.” Such halcyon images make unexpected appearances in every poem, drawing the reader in at the most unexpected times and making it all but impossible not to feel compassion for the poet’s pain.
As often happens when a poet is courageous and honest, the pain and anxiety expressed in the verse acquires a universal resonance. Joschua Beres speaks in a voice with which all of humanity can identify and from which all of humanity can receive comfort in knowing that we are not alone in asking ‘why?’ After reading Forty-five Seconds, we cannot help but admit that someone out there is walking beside us and experiencing the human condition just as we do. There is a kind of 'carpe diem' ebullience that percolates throughout the body of Joschua Beres’ work; in the end, we must concede that life is for the living. Forty-five Seconds is a sterling example of the raw power of poetry when it is written with courage, honesty, and prodigious wisdom."
http://readersfavorite.com/books-1025...
"Forty-five Seconds by Joschua Beres is not for the faint of heart. The themes explored within its richly polished lines are dark, deeply personal, courageous and ultimately heartrending. This slender volume contains a minefield of indelible images and confessional turns of phrase that readers will not easily forget.
In order to fully comprehend the depth and intensity of this collection of poems, it should be noted that the ‘forty-five seconds’ of the title refers to the length of time it took for the atom bomb to fall before decimating Hiroshima. There is a pervasive sense of abandonment throughout Forty-five Seconds that might serve to depress readers were it not for the underlying, interwoven thread of resilient optimism that accompanies the gloom. In ‘under the orange tree,’ we catch a glimpse of the golden, molten core of Beres’ poetic sun: “her eyes were once the dance of/quasars and nebulae/as they always are for the young and in love.” Such halcyon images make unexpected appearances in every poem, drawing the reader in at the most unexpected times and making it all but impossible not to feel compassion for the poet’s pain.
As often happens when a poet is courageous and honest, the pain and anxiety expressed in the verse acquires a universal resonance. Joschua Beres speaks in a voice with which all of humanity can identify and from which all of humanity can receive comfort in knowing that we are not alone in asking ‘why?’ After reading Forty-five Seconds, we cannot help but admit that someone out there is walking beside us and experiencing the human condition just as we do. There is a kind of 'carpe diem' ebullience that percolates throughout the body of Joschua Beres’ work; in the end, we must concede that life is for the living. Forty-five Seconds is a sterling example of the raw power of poetry when it is written with courage, honesty, and prodigious wisdom."
http://readersfavorite.com/books-1025...
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews