Read Online Tenebrae A Memoir of Love and Death Dan Flanigan Matthew Lippman Books

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"Mink Eyes" introduces us to Dan Flanigan the novelist. "Tenebrae" shows us another side of Dan - the poet. The lead poem in this collection, "Tenebrae A Memoir of Love and Death," is a lovely bracelet of verse and prose poems that link brilliantly together in a gripping narrative and wrenching emotional journey through the illness and death of his wife. Other poems in the book - including several snapshot portraits of Dan's extended family under the title "The Irish in America" - reflect this same grappling with the fundamental issues of our lives - loss, change, growth, hope, despair and acceptance, reflecting throughout a compassionate embrace of the human condition. These are truly poems for the people - plain but exquisitely crafted, direct as a dagger, and expressed in a language that is both elegant and easy to understand at the same time. They reach from the heart to the heart.

Read Online Tenebrae A Memoir of Love and Death Dan Flanigan Matthew Lippman Books

"Reliving the highs and lows of the love of your life, then helplessly watching her die. His writing is exquisite, making you laugh and cry…feeling it all, especially if you have lost a loved one. An honest portrait of a life-long journey with your mate… makes it a must read for everyone. He puts words to the way you felt or may feel, if and when it happens to you. So beautifully written, you will want to re-read it over and over again, maybe because men don’t express themselves and Mr. Flanigan opens up his heart for all to see."

Product details Paperback 76 pages Publisher Arjuna Books (February 26, 2019) Language English ISBN-10 1733610324

Tags : Tenebrae A Memoir of Love and Death (9781733610322) Dan Flanigan, Matthew Lippman Books,Dan Flanigan, Matthew Lippman,Tenebrae A Memoir of Love and Death,Arjuna Books,1733610324,Biography Autobiography/Personal Memoirs,POETRY / Subjects Themes / Death, Grief, Loss,Poetry/Subjects Themes - Family,verse poetry; prose poems; life and death; grief and loss; cancer; family and fatherhood; memoir nostalgia,Biography Autobiography / Literary

Tenebrae A Memoir of Love and Death Dan Flanigan Matthew Lippman Books Reviews :

Tenebrae A Memoir of Love and Death Dan Flanigan Matthew Lippman Books Reviews

• When I saw the title Tenebrae my Latin came back and I realized it meant Shadows or Darkness which made me curious so I bought it.There is certainly an element of darkness and definitely some shadows. However all of that dissipates as you go on a roller coaster ride of emotions with the author's loss, pain, insights, anguish,hopes, regrets and remarkable representations about the all to common ''what if's'' or ''i should have's'' that all of us have experienced when we have lost someone we loved. The journey through a several decades long wonderful loving dizzying relationship is the cornerstone of the book but the unique poetry insights throughout the rest of the book and the remarkable philosophical organized ramblings is one of the more beautiful parts of this very special read. In one regard it's very harsh and unforgiving, yet in the other regard I think Max unknowingly revealed an enormous amount of emotions, feelings and sensitivities he might not have known he possessed and in so doing provided a great treat for his readers.
• This collection was powerful and funny and sad and absolutely moved me from start to finish. The details were vivid to the point that it seemed as if I had seen this on a screen. The people were vibrant and real and I felt their emotions every step of the way. Tenebrae is a journey, and for anyone who has lost someone close, it is touching, poignant, and stirs up every emotion, from anger to regret, from sorrow to joy. I felt for Max and his wife and family, and I wanted their story to end differently than I knew it would. I wholeheartedly recommend Tenebrae to anyone who likes the serious yet playful, if you have never liked a poem before or if you are a poetry connoisseur, you will love this.
• My only warning here is that this book has some stylistic typesetting that will not render properly (and thus cannot be downloaded) on an e-ink .
  
  I heard about this on a podcast, downloaded it on a whim, and ended up reading the entire thing on my phone in an evening.
  
  This is the only modern poetry I've read on this subject, and it engrossed me.
• Reliving the highs and lows of the love of your life, then helplessly watching her die. His writing is exquisite, making you laugh and cry…feeling it all, especially if you have lost a loved one. An honest portrait of a life-long journey with your mate… makes it a must read for everyone. He puts words to the way you felt or may feel, if and when it happens to you. So beautifully written, you will want to re-read it over and over again, maybe because men don’t express themselves and Mr. Flanigan opens up his heart for all to see.
• This is a collection of emotionally charged but unsentimental poems and prose. Grief transformed into verse, but no less painful. Poignant and a brutally honest reckoning but also a celebration of a life.
• Written as a tribute to his beloved wife and partner in life, the author takes the reader into seldom explored terrain, the mysterious time between living and dying. Although it is a difficult subject, the author's free verse style and dream like writing makes the story that unfolds seem more like a mysterious journey which has several twists and turns that reveal unexpected events which they both experience, each in their own way, but within a cocoon of support, comfort and unconditional love that only these two people can understand and share. Essentially, the poems, express an entire loving marriage relationship, with its normal ups and downs, that eventually focuses on the last several months they spent together. Additionally, near the end of the book, the author provides another set of free verse poems which describe the characters, personality and quirks of various Irish relatives whose lives he honors through his memories of them. One charming poem a bit straying from the main theme, is his reflection of a visit to San Josef Bay, Cape Scott, Vancouver Island with his very young daughter as she innocently makes observations and asks questions on just about anything she sees and thinks. Her unfiltered innocent musings and impressions are also amazingly profound. As Dad's usually do, he patiently answers the deep questions and as well as the superficial ones, as best he can, while the love inside his heart grows ever wider and deeper. All the free verse poems written by the author are rich in content and heartfelt emotions,
  
  The author provides dream like verses about his impressions of the gradual changes he sees in his wife, from being a vibrant, dynamic, active person to becoming a mere shadow of herself yet maintaining her essential strong personality. The author reveals in free verse his thoughts, feelings, doubts, insecurities, questions, actions and reactions as well as tender thoughts of love which arise as his beloved wife of 43 years gradually melts before his eyes and transitions out of life. Near the end of her life, Max McBride describes an emotional wall that develops between them which seems to surprise to him. This emotional wall widens as both the living and dying both face the ultimate realization that although death is a natural process it is a permanent separation. Anyone who has lost a loved one or has helped ease their transition out of this world understands the emotional pain, loss as well perplexity associated with the finality of death.
  
  Starting at the beginning, when young and in love, the first poem is about the Sonora desert. It is a paradox because the desert although teeming with life, is also a place void of life. The crescendo and decrescendo of their lives reaches its peak in the short stories told in the section titled "72nd and Amsterdam". This is a corner or intersection of two streets in New York City where the author and his wife often met during their happy early years to explore the city after he finished work. Later, that busy corner seemed to represent all their hopes, fears and difficult decisions they faced after the unnatural force of a highly unpredictable illness entered their lives. It seemed lab values results, chemotherapy treatments and worrying about their side effects became the norm. The author's wife identified an important factor lacking in the doctor/patient relationship with her first oncologist and therefore made the decision to change doctors. Something stunning and baffling occurred during that transition period. Although unclear, it seems a last resort effort for specialized treatment was sought in Houston, Texas where an honest young female oncologist, released them from false expectations. She truthfully stated, "if it were my mother, I would take her home and make her as comfortable as possible." To the author's credit his poems and short stories are not overwhelming, and do not provide too much detail or unnecessary descriptions of the end stages of his wife's life, instead this book is written in the form of a tribute to a life well lived and about an illness faced with courage. Reviewer received a complimentary copy of the book for reviewing purposes. After reading this book, it is evident she left in peace, felt loved and was cared for in the best possible manner and most importantly she is remembered and never forgotten. Erika Borsos [pepper flower]
• What I love most about Max McBride's book is that it made me enjoy reading poetry again; and even, sometimes, reading it aloud. The TRUTH in the feelings of these poems underpins the language and the form of his work--sometimes free verse, held together by rhythm and by consonance ('Sonora'); sometimes in prose poems. Speaking of which, '72d and Amsterdam' is prose in form and poetic in language and inspiration. "A Trip to the Underworld' references a Greek Classic but uses the idea with sardonic humor to deal with a painful end-of-life experience the rapid loss of a wife after many years of marriage and struggle and family. That sense of struggle is masterfully presented in 'Quills' the poem resonates for me as a contrast with a song both the poet and I are familiar with 'Muskrat Love', a Top Forty' hit by The Captain and Tennille. In 'The Second Theological Virtue" there is the wonderful line 'Hope is much crueler than despair.' Enough said I am getting back to my reading and reciting and thinking. This is what modern poetry can be honest and not precious; technically strong but not academic; available like that of Robert Frost; worth re-reading.