BOOK REVIEW - FORTY FOUR

Smart and penetrating

Reviewed by R.C. Gibson of Indies Today

A thoughtful guided meditation that helps readers examine their unique perspective and small place in the world, Forty Four is a special compilation of poetry and artwork. Eccentric and thoroughly contemporary in composition, Miklaszewicz forgoes the weight of traditional poetry. Rather than musings on life, death and love, Forty Four jumps right into controversy-laden subjects. Without judgment, topics range from cancel culture and casual hookups to the toll that modern living takes on us all. Readers will likely discover personal meaning in their own circumstances as they consider the poems, with each succinct illustration and poem speaking to a wide variety of topics and interests. Tarnished, even without pithy artwork, perfectly captures the burden of guilt. Old Flame is able to reduce modern communications eloquence to the equivalent of caveman grunts in under seventy words. Ever a fan of subtlety, I laughed out loud at the clever wordplay when coming across the phrase ‘a tinder lover’ in Mannequins.

You know that feeling when your grandfather laments walking to school in the snow, uphill… both ways? The moment when you look off the precipice and realize that there’s nowhere to go but forward, or down, depending on how you look at things. Jan Miklaszewicz has cleverly captured these shifting emotions with astute perceptiveness. Varied topics will keep you on your toes, but the brevity of the works will keep the book in your hands, afraid of what you might miss if you put it down. The inclusion of intelligent, sometimes cheeky illustrations both serve to drive home the intentions of the poems and also deliver a few good punchlines. Smart and penetrating, Forty Four feels like a lively freedom anthem for people of a certain age. If you’re looking for a collection of saucy, thought-provoking, wry poems, you’ve finally found it. Forty Four will make you shake your head, throw your hands in the air, grit your teeth and smile.

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