Sherrill S. Cannon now shares her thoughts in this book of feelings. “As a teacher, I used poetry to help counsel many troubled teens and friends, and have continued this pattern throughout the years.”
There are three sections in her book: Heads, Spinning, and Tails . . . (Love & Loss: Coin Toss?). The variety of lyrical poetry forms includes free verse, blank verse, haiku, and sonnets. Some poems are simply plays on words.
Award-winning children’s author, Sherrill S. Cannon, released her new endeavor about life and love in her debut poetry book, “A Penny For Your Thoughts,” which received a five-star review from Reader’s Favorite. This thoughtful book of one-hundred fifty-four poems is simply the most beautiful presentation describing the heart and anguish exploring love and friendship. Thoughts of Elizabeth Barrett Browning and her sensitive sonnets of love and deeply felt emotions are shadows in Cannon’s poems. The lovely style of blending and weaving words evoke the range of sentiments. The poetry touches on topics of age, youth, nature, and love with deep encounters with oneself such as “My Tree” and the following excerpt from the “Frozen Wasteland.”
“I was living in a wasteland⸺
Where nothing new would grow,
Except to just grow older
Underneath the freezing snow”
In years past, poetry was written and enjoyed by many, today there is the idea, including among some professors, (who I have heard say, they don’t understand poetry.) That insinuates that a good or great poem is something that is indecipherable to most.
I am not one of them, as with great poets, such as Maya Angelou, Robert Stevenson, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, there is a story in the poems, a sense of place and emotion flowing through the verses. ‘A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS,’ by Sherrill S. Cannon is one such book.
It is rich in emotion, stories flow through the verses, and tales of love and loss are ripe within its pages. It is a glorious book that should be savored from start to finish and this reader feels that one would have to be devoid of life experience not to find many in this book that do not strike a cord deep inside of them.
Ms. Cannon’s poetry takes on the issues of grief, dying, being the object of idolatry, as, in her poem Pedestal, love, loss, and letting go. A magnificent journey through life.
A few of those that struck a deep chord in me was ‘Pedestals,’ That tells us the tale of someone who is stuck upon a pedestal and cannot become truly human for fear of losing their love. ‘The Real Me,’ that speaks of the little part of oneself that is seldom if ever shown to anyone. ‘To See The Future,’ shows us all that we might lose if we could see the future. For we would no longer be living in the present, the joy, sorrow, love, grief, beauty, and glory of life would be forever shaded with the knowledge of what’s to come. ‘Does Memory Last,’ a question each of us may ponder, when we lose a loved one or are facing death. ‘Old Woman,’ is a poignant look at the young woman that exists in all, under the veil of wrinkles and aging.
There were so many poems in this book that touched cords deeply within me, as to bring smiles to my lips, joy to my heart, thoughtfulness to my mind and grief inside of me.
A PENNY FOR YOUR THOUGHTS is an astoundingly, wonderous trip through the thoughts, life, and emotions we all go through in life.
In the pages of this book, everyone will find something that will help them grow or understand themselves better. I highly recommend it.
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