Pacific Raven: Hawai`i Poems

Connecting to a poet s work for the first time is always a magical voyage into an unknown world of fantasy and emotions. One s expectations (at least mine) are high, and you secretly ask yourself:  What am I going to discover? I can assure you that my expectations were met. Kathryn Waddell Takara kept her work hidden in a safe shelter for many years until she decided to open her box of treasures and invite the reader to enter into her world of beauty. From the Title Page: Pacific Raven where the author is the majestic black flight which soars high in her future of change, challenge, healing strength, and compassion, to the last poem: Love Endureth where she opens our hearts, when the reader closes the book, he or she is left with an eager desire to read more of Kathryn s work.  I was touched, moved, swept off my feet, gasping for breath as I was taken away by a tsunami of words, metaphors hitting me with an extraordinary power of imagination and expertise in which this gifted poet shares her work. Hers is a poetical voice that sings with abundance.  In I Am A Poem she writes, `I transform/like a phoenix/into sunrays and moonbeams/dropped from life s flames/poetic words radiate like new leaves/in a forest of clouds! So eloquently, so masterfully she weaves and spins her poems with the sharpness of a raven s spirit. Kathryn is, without the shadow of a doubt, a poet who drinks from many sources. You can feel how she has submerged into and emerged from the depths and spiritual richness of many cultures, creating her own brave new world of dreams, beauty, and reflections on life.  The way she captures the wild enchantment of her Pacific Islands habitat absorbs you into the landscapes, the mountains, the pristine waterfalls, and the scent of flowers. She also invites you to smell and taste Nature, to move into the love space in which she creates so sacredly and spiritually the unseen mysteries, the magical Goddesses. She writes in Morning Figs `Solitary seeker/I sit on a warm rock/sun in memories/ hear the mystic melody of the poetry muse/travel on love s wings/ride the invisible wind !  Kathryn s rhythmic and lyrical poetry tangles a variety of themes: solitude, politics, travel, history and love. She walks good stands tall. She is bold enough not to shy away from the darker sides of life, like aging and death. In Fleeting Vision she writes, Darkness wants to climb in the lap of my day ; and in Sunless Memory she muses, `My own voice has drifted out too far/from the shores of my childhood. Throughout the book, one must pause to reflect upon visual and sensual images, easing the mind and soul, and then come to terms with the strength of each poem before moving on. It is difficult to put this volume of poetry aside before the very last poem is read. Her poems are so intriguing they simply do not let you. They have that rare quality of seducing you into the very heart of each and every one of these jewels, evoking tender moments of insights and the love and spirituality of the author. Finally, the work leaves you in total bewilderment and surprise at its power.   A perfect example of Kathryn s power of impression is experienced in the poem Samantha where she writes, `Samantha with topaz eyes/sees the bird of Solomon/ through her carnal soul and further on: `she smiles her toothless hello in a magic flirt/ and reads the Tarot like novels of intrigue! Dr. Kathryn Waddell Takara is a brilliant, new, powerful voice that deserves to be read and heard, to be admired and respected.   A refreshingly bold, beautiful, and strong new branch on the magical tree of poetry! Ayin Adams, PhD, author of The Woods Deep Inside Me