Invincible Ink by Don Gutteridge is a beautiful and immersive collection of poems. The poetry feels both carefree in their evocations of memories and careful in their construction. The verse flows in intervals, easily giving up its content without losing any of its beauty. The beauty shows up in alliterations about a sunny day, in descriptions of youth and decay, and in all the carefully packaged memories. There’s a lot of personal sentiments and recollections- it feels like being allowed a peek inside a fully-inhabited life. A life full of love, humor, sadness, charm, decay, details, and fantasy- much like my own life and probably many others. All the best parts are photographed and presented for display. One of my favorites was Beyond Blood and Bone – a poem waging an subdued war on the objectification of lovers, instead proclaiming a beauty that “breeds in the genes, and lets us live beyond the boundaries of blood and bone.”  Another treat for me was all the poems written about abiding in the blissful summers of his Grandfather’s home. They had the vivid and enchanting filter that surrounds childhood memories and reminded me of some of the more wondrous times of my childhood. There isn’t any significant or concrete theme binding all the poems, but the presence of a singular, thoughtful source behind them is clear. It was a wonderful way to simply sit for a while and let the poems simmer. I had a lovely time reading the poems and then re-reading my favorites. It was a simple and elegant collection and brought about a sense of peace in me- as much is possible in a year like this one.

Pages: 89