Mystic Orchards by Jonathan Koven

Welcome to Halfman, Halfbook for my stop on the Blog Tour for Mystic Orchards by Jonathan Koven and published by Kelsay Books.

About the Book

Mystic Orchards is a collection of spellbinding poems and hybrid pieces. Exploring cultural heritage and identity, the shared pain and joy of family, art, reality, memory, and true love; these pages confront a dream. Visiting the orchards is a journey from the darkness of fear toward hope, from total stillness back into the tumult of life.

About the Author

Author Photo

Jonathan Koven grew up on Long Island, NY. He holds a BA in English and Creative Writing from American University, works as a technical writer, and reads chapbooks for Moonstone Arts. He lives in Philadelphia with his wife Delana, and their cats Peanut Butter and Keebler. He has both fiction and poetry published by Assure Press, Animal Heart Press, Thirty West Publishing, and more. Read Jonathan’s poetry debut Palm Lines (2020), available from Toho Publishing. His fiction debut Below Torrential Hill (2021) is also available, a winner of the Electric Eclectic Novella Prize.

My Review

Poetry is a very personal thing for me. For a long time it felt like a school exercise, but over the past few years I have been trying to read more widely and have discovered lots of different poets since picking them poetry collections up again a few years ago.

But where to start? Well, you could go for one of the recognised classic collections, or you could explore the more modern collections, such as Mystic Orchards by Jonathan Koven. This is a very personal collection with a mix of poetry styles and short prose pieces that tease out his cultural heritage and the joy and pain of families, love, art and his idenity.

The lyrical prose felt like I was reading a series of dreams and it felt very personal, almost intimate. Even though I didn’t understand the context of some of the poems in this collection, they often resonated because of his choice of words and his openness in the subjects covered.

Some of the lines are particularly beautiful, these were some that stood out:

of wish maker gone
to the water a wanderer turned water strider

To draw maps of light
As it reaches this rock

Outside
Bonded
inside,
fragments left
for a new self.

I liked the variety of forms in the collection, short poems, longer stanza’s and short prose work really well with his chosen subjects. Family is a bit subject, but I also liked that themes from natural world permeated lots of the poems, wolves, fireflies, elms and rivers all get a mention as you read the collection. Overall I though that this was a thoroughly enjoyable collection.

Three Favourite Poems

Future Is Older Than The Past
Ineffable
Reason On The Horizon

Don’t forget to visit the other blogs on the blog tour