By Fire by Rhonda Harris Slota is a book of expressive poetry. Consisting of a total of more than three dozen short poems, it includes eleven previously published poems that appeared in various magazines and other publications from 1983 to 2020, and the remainder are new poems that have never appeared in print before. The poems in this book cover a broad range of themes taken from the author’s own life, but they are relatable to many others as well. These themes include family, living in the rural Midwest, the seasons, religion, death, pain and sorrow, and dreams and fears.

I liked the imagery evoked by the author’s words in many of the poems, especially the scenes of rural life that brought back memories of stories told to me as a child by my own grandparents. Both the length of the poems and the style of the writing varied in the poems throughout the book, which I enjoyed.

Some the poems in this book have been published before, most of those appeared in print more than thirty years ago in the early 1980s and 1990s in a format that is not readily accessible today. This book provides a whole new group of poetry lovers with the opportunity to read these older poems. This collection is still important because it focuses on emotions that remain as relevant now as they were when they were originally written. I felt that they fit in well with the more than two dozen new poems included in this book. None of the poems felt dated even when written years ago or focused on events that were from many decades ago because, while many things change with the passing of time, emotions like sorrow, fear, love, and joy transcend time and remain the same from generation to generation.

Beautifully-written and emotionally-resonant, By Fire is a poetry book that will appeal to readers looking for poems that tells an impassioned story about family trauma and mental illness. It can be dark at times, but there is love and wisdom shared as well which makes this a potent and heartening collection.

Pages: 90 | ASIN: B09MYRSSPQ