Xuleca Lounge

This book is a variety of poems about the emotions of a man both in his journey through joys and grievances in life and some poems that are specifically about his love life with his husband. Below I’m going to talk specifically about several poems I enjoyed.

I enjoyed “Conflagration” because it’s a very emotional poem that tells the story of a hero falling, but coming back again. While the ending isn’t the happily ever after that I want. I think it shows that sometimes things in life don’t work out no matter how hard we work to cheer the hero on.

“Before the Door of Nothingness” reminds me of what it is like to feel fear and hopelessness. I feel the fear he feels. I’m not sure but it almost seems he’s afraid of the dark or being alone, either one was a big fear of mine as a kid.

In the “Satori of the Trees” poem, I love the beautiful descriptions of what the author sees in autumn. I can just picture all the colorful trees. The ending is sad to me as he describes the “zenith” of the colors and then the falling of the colors as a loss of the colors akin to a loss of love.

“Red Trees” is another beautiful description of the magic of fall. I love the comparison of the sky to the rings of Saturn. I love the description of how the trees suddenly transform from green to yellow, red, and orange. Living among lots of trees I understand how it can be inspiring to a writer.

“The Rain Poem” is a spectacular one for how we as humans feel all gloomy and damp inside. Then those thoughts will stay a while until we or someone we love helps push them away. I love the last lines describing the author basking in the prism of the rainbow and then letting his cloud-covered thoughts drift away.

“Caribbean Colors” is a lovely description of a vacation with your romantic love. The author does it in a way that shows the fun things done in poem form but it’s written like he’s remembering the special moments. This poem makes me want to take an island vacation.

“The Song of Fire” is a special poem written by the author to his husband on their wedding day. It is full of the passion and love he feels. The comparison of love to a fire and being spellbound by love. I can tell this was written and rewritten to be just perfect for the one he loves.

“Xochimilco’s Waters” is an inspiring poem. The author writing about opportunities and how we take flight towards them even if we have had issues before. I love the lines:

“Soaring on winged air

Soaring unhindered where

We (are in flight) alight

Beating our wings

Keeping the dreams from mooring…”

This just motivates me to keep going and work around what gets in the way.

Overall note, that the poetry is well written, and the emotional language is well done. The two things I thought that could be better are some of the poetry, especially towards the beginning was difficult to understand and my second suggestion trimming the length of some of the poems. I think anyone looking for an emotional and descriptive poetry book would be happy with this one.