I really rather enjoyed Swartz’ collection of poems in the book Constructed of Magic, despite many of the poems involving rhyming

. Rhyming poems are usually a big turn-off for me. Many of the poems in this book dealt with a difficult topic for most people- death. Yet, Swartz’ take on things is more light-hearted. There are sketches throughout the book that accentuate nicely. If the author is the artist, brava! Beautiful!

 

For this author, death is not to be feared, but embraced. It is not an end to things, but the beginning of a new stage, merely the continuation of a journey. Life is to be enjoyed, not merely endured. I must admit, despite the encouraging and playful nature of the poetry, I still found myself sad at times.

 

Two of my favourite poems were ‘The Clock in the Square’, and ‘Visit from a Fatal Friend’.

 

‘The Clock in the Square’ reminds us that every life matters. Things may go on after we shed our mortal shell, but everyone leaves an imprint, a legacy, behind. ‘Visit from a Fatal Friend’ shows us Death need not be feared, but can be seen as a friend, and guide to the next stage in life. I found this poem rather synchronistic given that one of my most recent reads was The Heartbeat Thief by AJ Krafton.

 

Swartz’ Constructed of Magic collection is a must-read for any lover of poetry. It sings to the heart, and makes you reconsider the seriousness with which we treat some topics.

 

[A editing would be good. There were several grammatical/ spelling errors. The formatting was also funky but that may have come about during conversion.
I would also suggest removing the asterisks with definitions. It takes from your poetry, and some readers may believe it an insult to their intelligence. If one is reading poetry of this calibre, the words are most likely known. If they aren’t, then the reader is likely to look them up.]