Imperfect Echoes: Writing Truth and Justice with Capital Letters, lie and… (edition 2015)

Carolyn Howard-Johnson has the ability to transform intensely personal experiences and emotions into poetry that belongs to all of us. She draws us in, embracing us with her words.

I love the theme of this collection. Carolyn looks at the broad scope of war, humanizing events, inviting us to see beyond political soundbites. We're not given a stream of violent words to spark graphic images. Her intent here is not to shock with trails of blood. Instead, we're shown what war looks like from a smaller standpoint; a child, a grandmother, a friend. We also see what compassion looks like, what real justice might feel like if we could learn to embrace our differences.

This is a beautiful collection of poems that can be read and reread many times over. ( )