LitFuse Publicity Blog Tour: A Friend in the Storm

Here's a description of the book: "This ninety-six page gift-book combines heartfelt poetry with powerful quotes and Scripture verses to speak to the heart and soul of anyone going through difficult times. The beautiful fabric binding with foil stamping makes this the perfect gift for anyone seeking comfort.

Author Cheryl Ricker reaches into the depths of human suffering from the perspective of Christ speaking to the reader in soothing poetic words.

This elegant gift book will reach the heart and soul of anyone facing difficult circumstances, leading them through their suffering into the arms of a faithful loving God.

Each two-page spread includes a poem, as well as reflections written by Christian leaders, along with healing Scripture verses."

My Review:

As is probably the case with many poetry book/anthologies, not all of the poems are going to be equally meaningful to the reader. I found some of these poems to be very intriguing and encouraging, and I found others to be a bit forced. The hard thing with rhyming in poetry is that sometimes it works wonderfully, and other times it just doesn’t seem to fit. This is what my mom and I discussed when I read her some of the pages from this book.

I must say that the book itself is lovely—the layout, along with the use of quotes, Bible verses, and poems together. The nature images in the book are both pretty and calming, in a sense.

Reading all the way through the poems is vital to really getting the full effect of the book. I was pleasantly surprised by the “twist” at the end, and the order of the poems took on more significance as I neared the end.

In all, I do think that some of these poems would be a comfort to those who are going through hard times, and many of the poems toward the end of the book are quite hopeful. However, I also feel that some of these poems and their unconventional analogies (which aren’t always a bad thing in poetry in general) might serve to confuse the reader, even if they do help the reader to think a little more deeply about what it is they believe. So, I might recommend reading this book first before giving it to someone else.

*With thanks to the publisher for my free copy of the book in exchange for my honest review, to be given during the LitFuse Publicity blog tour.*

About the Author: Cheryl Ricker has a degree in creative writing and has written columns and articles for various magazines and newspapers. She's been writing poetry all her life and her poems have won awards in fine arts and literary magazines. Cheryl lives with her husband and two sons in Rochester, Minnesota.

Please check out Cheryl's amazing website for more information. www.cherylricker.com

The Book Trailer:



To Buy the Book: click HERE

Contest Information: All of the fun contest information can be found HERE!

Blog Tour Schedule: Check out all the other reviews scheduled by clicking HERE and scrolling down.

Q & A with the Author:

Question: What do you love the most about poetry? Do you feel that poetry elicits (and expresses) certain feelings that no other form of literature can elicit?

Answer: I love poetry because of its compact musicality and mystery. Using sound and rhythmic language it plays on our imaginative awareness to evoke the most emotional responses.

Poems are sacred trusts. They’re songs of sorts. We all know how music reaches the heart like nothing else. Poems move people to change. They play with words, sculpting them to help people to see differently.

Other forms of literature lack their quality of creative distillations of truth. Poems are shiny golden nuggets you can repeatedly turn in your mind to catch different angles of light.

Question: Do you have a favorite poem from A Friend in the Storm—one that is especially meaningful to you?

Answer:

Your Advocate

Don’t worry when they judge you;
Only I can judge a heart.
As the Christ who crossed each crisis,
I will barricade each dart.

They misjudged Me for a devil,
peering gravely through pinched eyes,
but I gave beyond the grave
so I could save and make you wise.

Many of my poems connect people’s pain with Christ’s. As someone who has been misjudged in the past, the one helps me remember that not only am I sharing in the sufferings of Christ, but my sufferings also have a redemptive purpose. “All things work together for good to those that love the Lord and are called according to His purpose.”

Question: For those people who are perhaps perplexed/confused by poetry, do you have any thoughts you can share that might spark more appreciation for this writing form?

Answer: I get confused by a lot of poetry myself. When I write poetry I want to make people think, but I don’t want them to give them a headache trying to figure things out.

If you’re perplexed and confused by certain poetry, maybe that’s not the kind for you. As in all writing, there are many different types. Try something that works, but don’t give up so easily.

If you can’t find the kind of poetry you like to read, try writing it yourself. It’ll give you a new appreciation for poetry as a whole. Who knows; you might even start a new style that somebody (like yourself) has been hoping to find.

Take a chance.

Question: Do you have any tips you can give us on the craft of writing poetry?

Answer: I can tell you one of my techniques for writing rhyming poetry.

Jot down a provocative word, then start writing all the words you can think of related to it, and keep branching out. It’s a great brain-storming technique. Then start circling the best of the best key words.

As they’re spot-lighted, you may get an idea what you want to write about. Try to nail down your main point into a single sentence. Look at your circled words and next start brain-storm rhyming from them. Look at it like you’re building and piecing together an intricate puzzle.

Don’t be afraid to radically change things around. I work on paper so I can see what I’m doing. I have lines going in every which way, but they all help me map out my progress.

Stay prayerful, and keep writing until it sings. Read it aloud, and have someone else read it. Ask a teenager if they can understand it. Put it through the ninth degree. That’s what I do. I hope this helps.