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Dark Strands: Stirrings beneath the surface
There is beauty in darkness.
Dark Strands is a collection of poetry by JD Estrada where the more shadowy aspects of humanity are explored. As humans, there are many sides to us… and some of them aren’t so pretty.
Still, the statement "life is beautiful" is true, even in the not so lovely parts. Anger, sadness, despair, and madness can all have their moment to shine because they can all happen. Experiencing any of these emotions is human… so why not enjoy them in verse as well.
Care to come in and enjoy a slice of the dark? Don’t worry, the worst that can happen is that you enjoy it.
Dark Strands is a collection of poetry by JD Estrada where the more shadowy aspects of humanity are explored. As humans, there are many sides to us… and some of them aren’t so pretty.
Still, the statement "life is beautiful" is true, even in the not so lovely parts. Anger, sadness, despair, and madness can all have their moment to shine because they can all happen. Experiencing any of these emotions is human… so why not enjoy them in verse as well.
Care to come in and enjoy a slice of the dark? Don’t worry, the worst that can happen is that you enjoy it.
35 pages, Kindle Edition
First published February 12, 2015
2 people are currently reading
19 people want to read
About the author
J.D. Estrada
24 books177 followersAfter years of working in advertising, I figured there were better ways to write fiction. Born on August 13th, I share birthdays with Alfred Hitchcock and Fidel Castro... an interesting coincidence since mom is Cuban and I love a good story.
Truth be told, ever since I was a kid I dreamt about being an inventor, I just didn't know I'd end up doing it using words. Where some people choose to invent new products, I’ve chosen to invent worlds through words.
In college, I studied psychology for 3 years before realizing that if I finished, I'd need a psychologist for myself. Not being too enticed by the whole full circle nature of that trajectory, I switched to Marketing, Advertising... and Psychology. Seems I just couldn't let it go.
A lover of Science Fiction and Fantasy, I’ve always loved writing and connecting with people. Mind you, although I love these genres, my reading tastes are as eclectic as my musical passions. So from rock to salsa to classical music, I also read and write in a variety of genres and am just as satisfied writing a review or a poem as I am working on my next novel. My obsession with the human aspect of who we are is deeply embedded in most of my work and my first book is no exception. Only Human is the first link within the Human Cycle, a three-book exploration of humanity through fiction.
I’m currently working on several projects, consistently put out free material on the blog (jdestradawriter.blogspot.com) and I rant with zest on Twitter via @jdestradawriter. I also have and instagram account (@jdestradawriter) if you want to see what I’m getting up to or what delicious beer I may recommend pairing with the book your reading.
My favorite band is Pearl Jam, I was born in Puerto Rico, I bodyboard and to me, playing a guitar is as therapeutic as a bleeding into a notebook with my pen. So by all means, visit, say hi and connect.
Peace, love and maki rolls.
JD
Truth be told, ever since I was a kid I dreamt about being an inventor, I just didn't know I'd end up doing it using words. Where some people choose to invent new products, I’ve chosen to invent worlds through words.
In college, I studied psychology for 3 years before realizing that if I finished, I'd need a psychologist for myself. Not being too enticed by the whole full circle nature of that trajectory, I switched to Marketing, Advertising... and Psychology. Seems I just couldn't let it go.
A lover of Science Fiction and Fantasy, I’ve always loved writing and connecting with people. Mind you, although I love these genres, my reading tastes are as eclectic as my musical passions. So from rock to salsa to classical music, I also read and write in a variety of genres and am just as satisfied writing a review or a poem as I am working on my next novel. My obsession with the human aspect of who we are is deeply embedded in most of my work and my first book is no exception. Only Human is the first link within the Human Cycle, a three-book exploration of humanity through fiction.
I’m currently working on several projects, consistently put out free material on the blog (jdestradawriter.blogspot.com) and I rant with zest on Twitter via @jdestradawriter. I also have and instagram account (@jdestradawriter) if you want to see what I’m getting up to or what delicious beer I may recommend pairing with the book your reading.
My favorite band is Pearl Jam, I was born in Puerto Rico, I bodyboard and to me, playing a guitar is as therapeutic as a bleeding into a notebook with my pen. So by all means, visit, say hi and connect.
Peace, love and maki rolls.
JD
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
February 17, 2015
Everything I have read of JD's so far I've loved, so I was really excited to buy this.
This is definitely on the darker side of life as far as his poems go. There are elements within these pages that you are able to connect with, to understand. I found myself returning to several spots so that I could sit back and let the words sink in again and again.
It's obvious that JD pours his heart and soul into what he writes, and as I reader I couldn't ask for more. Definitely recommending this to my friends.
This is definitely on the darker side of life as far as his poems go. There are elements within these pages that you are able to connect with, to understand. I found myself returning to several spots so that I could sit back and let the words sink in again and again.
It's obvious that JD pours his heart and soul into what he writes, and as I reader I couldn't ask for more. Definitely recommending this to my friends.
March 6, 2015
Our emotions are the slaves to our thoughts at times, and we can be at the mercy of them. In these poems that JD has written, it’s like I want to use them, take joy in them and dominate them. He has you experiencing them as not just by single words but as a hybrid of emotions; a language with no limitations which connects you with probable experiences. I suggest you have a read, it may induce feelings in yourself that you may not want to express, but it may evoke a resonance in your own mind.
It was an extraordinary adventure!!
It was an extraordinary adventure!!
March 23, 2016
Good book to digest slowly and re-read whenever you need a burst of poetry or truth told with beautiful words that will give you more with every read. I particularly liked the short story at the end.
June 21, 2016
Loved this collection of poetry since the foreword until the last poem. it shows the darkness that can come upon humanity and the beauty that can exist in it.
favorite poems: Oblivion, Stars and Dark Strands (4 short poems)
favorite poems: Oblivion, Stars and Dark Strands (4 short poems)
January 4, 2021
Dark and powerful with a soulful taste. I enjoy them all, especially Surface, and Miranda and the broken ghost. And those micro poems were AMAZING. Those were my favorites!
March 3, 2018
I loved this book of poetry! Beautiful. :)
September 2, 2016
Dark Strands was an enjoyable book suitable for a wide range of ages. It touches on dark themes, but it never says there too long. There is always a bit of wry humor to stop it from being depressing. To me, it read like lyrics. My personal favorite poem in this collection is Statue. I've gone back and read it several times now. It's a nice addition to my library.
January 29, 2018
After rediscovering the joy of poetry thanks to Between the Tides, I was excited to discover more of JD’s non-prose writing. In the foreword, JD describes poetry as ‘dancing with words’, and this collection certainly feels more choreographed than its predecessor. Here, all of the gory glory of JD’s more macabre musings are on full display, and progressing through the contents felt like walking deeper and deeper into the Underworld (in a good way!)
Overall, the collection excellently showcases JD’s infinite imagination, but sometimes stumbles in conveying the scope of such thematically rich and varied ideas. Some poems are meandering or a little messy, though the occasions in which JD fails to deliver a closing emotional punch/ punchline are few. AMARANTH feels a tad undercooked, though it still lays to claim to a doozy of a line: ‘a Phoenix blossom you’d be/ if only you could die’. UNDERTOW feels like a deleted scene from THE SEA in JD’s Between the Tides. And BOUND has potential, but little payoff - though the line ‘past the thimble of your skin’ burned brightly. With some more polish and panache, the stupendously-titled MIRANDA AND THE BROKEN GHOST could have been a modern Annabel Lee. However, even striking but inconsistent poems like RATS IN THE DARK have winning lines like ‘no morality in survival / no manners in betrayal’ and a helluva coda.
JD certainly delivers on his promise to produce poetry brimming with darkness. My favourite was by far and away FRESH, an icky glimpse into the mind of a ravenous monster as it considers its next meal. I can give no higher compliment than this: it reminded me very much of nasty narrator in the song Dark Shines by Muse. The poem starts with the toe-curlingly terrifying inquiry ‘have you ever tasted ichor? I have’, and it only gets darker from there. The characterisation is careful and complete, raw and incredibly well-realised.
Another of the highlights for me is SURFACE. Partly it’s because I’ve been studying literary doubles for over three years, and partly because, in typical laconic fashion, JD has managed to capture the essence of reflected self in poem form. ‘Your reflection I offer as answer’ and ‘surface is mere suggestion/ at all that lies within’ are lines that shone particularly bright. STATUE too is a subdued standout, subtly evoking the sculpture of the title whilst weaving in existential ponderings about whether carving an image from marble causes pain to the stone itself. And a customary killer closer seals the deal: ‘Art is pain and so if life/ Voids are there to fill/ Yet if you could take up a knife/ I don’t wonder if you’d god you’d kill’. It’s a thread that traces all the way back to CHALLENGE in Between the Tides.
I’m always entertained and enthralled by the tangibility of the worlds JD conjures with his poems - pieces like THE ATTIC and CAUGHT INSIDE are so starkly yet clearly captured that I watched them unfold like short films. JD continues to rule supreme in the realm of poetic puns and wordplay, with phrases like ‘your simile smile’ (from SIMILE) and ‘the impasse has an overpass’ (from YIELD). OBLIVION is a deeply engaging meditation on fighting one’s fears, whispering ‘bonfire wishes and broken prayers’ to the night sky. STARS ponders the apathy of its titular celestial beings. And THIRTEEN feels almost like a sea shanty: ‘dread not the dreadnought’, and ‘it’s crew cast away the castaways/ that cast away, as a cast or a way’; the wordplay is a little muddled towards the end but overwhelmingly effective, and it is always thrilling to see words being put together in such inventive ways. However, SECOND THOUGHTS feels a little scattershot; a stream of consciousness trudge through apathy, possible uttered by some kind of languorous deity. And while such an image is fantastically conceptualised, I would have loved to see it being pushed even further.
One of the more unusual pieces, both in terms of content and formatting, was the eponymous DARK STRANDS (subtitled MICRO POEMS). For as many stanzas there are that border, or indulge in, cliches, there are stunning lines like this: ‘A thousand waves could not erase / the name you wrote upon my shore’. I really wish this had been longer, or perhaps JD could have threaded micro poems throughout the collection, as bookends to certain themes or emotional arcs. On reflection, the whole concept of micro poems could have been the theme of the entire anthology, I.e. a whole collection of thematically dark micro poems (and ironically, the poems entitled DARK STRANDS were the least dark of the lot!)
I have given the same star rating to Dark Strands as I did to Between the Tides because goodreads seemingly doesn’t allow half stars. If it did, I would give Dark Strands 4.5/5 because, while not perfect, it demonstrates how JD has matured as a writer, improving in elegance and expression whilst maintaining his creative core and distinctive voice. Between the Tides felt like a breathless flight of fancy, a raw stream of consciousness view of human emotion, whereas Dark Strands feels like a finely tuned melody.
Overall, the collection excellently showcases JD’s infinite imagination, but sometimes stumbles in conveying the scope of such thematically rich and varied ideas. Some poems are meandering or a little messy, though the occasions in which JD fails to deliver a closing emotional punch/ punchline are few. AMARANTH feels a tad undercooked, though it still lays to claim to a doozy of a line: ‘a Phoenix blossom you’d be/ if only you could die’. UNDERTOW feels like a deleted scene from THE SEA in JD’s Between the Tides. And BOUND has potential, but little payoff - though the line ‘past the thimble of your skin’ burned brightly. With some more polish and panache, the stupendously-titled MIRANDA AND THE BROKEN GHOST could have been a modern Annabel Lee. However, even striking but inconsistent poems like RATS IN THE DARK have winning lines like ‘no morality in survival / no manners in betrayal’ and a helluva coda.
JD certainly delivers on his promise to produce poetry brimming with darkness. My favourite was by far and away FRESH, an icky glimpse into the mind of a ravenous monster as it considers its next meal. I can give no higher compliment than this: it reminded me very much of nasty narrator in the song Dark Shines by Muse. The poem starts with the toe-curlingly terrifying inquiry ‘have you ever tasted ichor? I have’, and it only gets darker from there. The characterisation is careful and complete, raw and incredibly well-realised.
Another of the highlights for me is SURFACE. Partly it’s because I’ve been studying literary doubles for over three years, and partly because, in typical laconic fashion, JD has managed to capture the essence of reflected self in poem form. ‘Your reflection I offer as answer’ and ‘surface is mere suggestion/ at all that lies within’ are lines that shone particularly bright. STATUE too is a subdued standout, subtly evoking the sculpture of the title whilst weaving in existential ponderings about whether carving an image from marble causes pain to the stone itself. And a customary killer closer seals the deal: ‘Art is pain and so if life/ Voids are there to fill/ Yet if you could take up a knife/ I don’t wonder if you’d god you’d kill’. It’s a thread that traces all the way back to CHALLENGE in Between the Tides.
I’m always entertained and enthralled by the tangibility of the worlds JD conjures with his poems - pieces like THE ATTIC and CAUGHT INSIDE are so starkly yet clearly captured that I watched them unfold like short films. JD continues to rule supreme in the realm of poetic puns and wordplay, with phrases like ‘your simile smile’ (from SIMILE) and ‘the impasse has an overpass’ (from YIELD). OBLIVION is a deeply engaging meditation on fighting one’s fears, whispering ‘bonfire wishes and broken prayers’ to the night sky. STARS ponders the apathy of its titular celestial beings. And THIRTEEN feels almost like a sea shanty: ‘dread not the dreadnought’, and ‘it’s crew cast away the castaways/ that cast away, as a cast or a way’; the wordplay is a little muddled towards the end but overwhelmingly effective, and it is always thrilling to see words being put together in such inventive ways. However, SECOND THOUGHTS feels a little scattershot; a stream of consciousness trudge through apathy, possible uttered by some kind of languorous deity. And while such an image is fantastically conceptualised, I would have loved to see it being pushed even further.
One of the more unusual pieces, both in terms of content and formatting, was the eponymous DARK STRANDS (subtitled MICRO POEMS). For as many stanzas there are that border, or indulge in, cliches, there are stunning lines like this: ‘A thousand waves could not erase / the name you wrote upon my shore’. I really wish this had been longer, or perhaps JD could have threaded micro poems throughout the collection, as bookends to certain themes or emotional arcs. On reflection, the whole concept of micro poems could have been the theme of the entire anthology, I.e. a whole collection of thematically dark micro poems (and ironically, the poems entitled DARK STRANDS were the least dark of the lot!)
I have given the same star rating to Dark Strands as I did to Between the Tides because goodreads seemingly doesn’t allow half stars. If it did, I would give Dark Strands 4.5/5 because, while not perfect, it demonstrates how JD has matured as a writer, improving in elegance and expression whilst maintaining his creative core and distinctive voice. Between the Tides felt like a breathless flight of fancy, a raw stream of consciousness view of human emotion, whereas Dark Strands feels like a finely tuned melody.
August 20, 2019
A collection of poems & words that enchant, confuse, make you think & wonder long after you've read it all. I recommend it to all who wants to get deeper, who's not afraid of getting lost in the shades & shadows of our hearts, & is eager to find the light. Among my favorites are Simile, Miranda & the Broken Ghost, Amaranth, Bound. I thoroughly enjoyed the author's ability to play with words, melodies & sounds of his poems. This book you will want to keep on reading & rereading.
Some of my favorite lines are:
"Dreams eternal.
Petals too,
Sweet amaranth,
Drinking twilight's brew."
"Magnets pull around
or push, deep within"
"The thrill of a leap,
Almost as good as the drop,
But apprehension does creep,
with what to do & what to not"
"A thousand waves
could not erase
The name you wrote upon my shore"
These are that spoke to me the most, but there are many more that pierce through the darkness awakening light.
I gave it 4 & not 5 stars only because some poems as a whole are still not fully unrolled in my mind, but with time, like a good wine, I think they will bring me a pleasure rich & refined.
Some of my favorite lines are:
"Dreams eternal.
Petals too,
Sweet amaranth,
Drinking twilight's brew."
"Magnets pull around
or push, deep within"
"The thrill of a leap,
Almost as good as the drop,
But apprehension does creep,
with what to do & what to not"
"A thousand waves
could not erase
The name you wrote upon my shore"
These are that spoke to me the most, but there are many more that pierce through the darkness awakening light.
I gave it 4 & not 5 stars only because some poems as a whole are still not fully unrolled in my mind, but with time, like a good wine, I think they will bring me a pleasure rich & refined.
December 31, 2020
Really lovely collection of poetry. Nice balance of emotion and imagery. Some really powerful, quotable lines. Highly recommend
December 16, 2017
every time I get sucked up in this beautiful poetry.
chapeau
chapeau
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews