Title: Tapestry – Poetry and Musings
Author: Edward Schwartz
Publisher: XlibrisUS
ISBN: 978-1-5434-4414-8
Pages: 208
Genre: Poetry
Reviewed by: Ella Vincent
Pacific Book Review
For many, marriage is a bond “Til death do us part,” but even death does not part the love and memories by author and poet Edward Schwartz expresses in his collection of poems; written as a publication of his feelings he had with his late wife of 58 years of marriage. His wife, Joan Schwartz, of whom the book is dedicated to, has also contributed some of the poems and stories; noted at the end of each of her entries with her initials “JS” along with the year and location. In essence, this book is a duet of love themes works by both of them, revealing the sensitivity, respect and deep emotional bonds they established and which have endured for all of their adult lives.
In a collection of roughly 100 poems and musings, readers are welcomed into the private lives of Edward and Joan Schwartz; their family, children and many of the milestones of their accomplishments over the years, living on Lake Barrington, along the outskirts of Chicago. During an era when American culture had post WWII values, what were then ordinary lives seem now to have many extraordinary qualities. Written in an iambic pentameter foot and beat, the rhymes of each poem show a clever foreshadowing of wordsmithing, making for an easy-going reading experience. Each poem shows the respect and love, keeping the personal feelings of what should be private – private, not disrespecting any of the morality and social integrity of the couple. The galley text is adorned with a screened lighthouse image, spaciously laid out to offer readers time to think for themselves in between poems about people in their own lives, and how similar human emotions are. With the bold and unabashed reveal of the author’s love for his wife, one gains the respect for his values and empathizes for his loss.
Tapestry – Poetry and Musings is just what the title implies. The complexity of entwined lives form a whole larger than the sum of its parts, and how the bond of love transcends the parting ways of even the great equalizer of death. This is a book written in the poetry of “daylight” versus what some other poetry may be described to be written in the “smoke filled basement of a beat café.” The sequence of works goes along a logical timeline as they both aged gracefully together, although as stated always feeling young. It is the type of book which can be picked up, opened at any page, and enjoyed for just what is profoundly stated, not necessarily needing to page sequentially from the beginning to the end. Although rather specific in subject matter to Mr. and Mrs. Schwartz, it parallels so many couples which have spent over half a century together and will bring a sentimental enjoyment to a wide reading audience.
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