Title: Places and Spaces: A Book of Poems
Author: Connie Swails Thibodeau
Publisher: Steven’s Press LLC
ISBN: 979-8-9878387-2-3
Pages:142
Genre: Poetry
Reviewed by: Manik Chaturmutha

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Places and Spaces, A Book of Poems by Connie Swails Thibodeau is a compilation of 30 years of the poet’s work. The poems in the book explore various themes such as spirituality, nature, aging, and family. Each poem has a unique and special message and provides a glimpse into the poet’s experiences, perspectives, learning, and philosophy.

The poems are perceptive and genuine, offering the author’s viewpoints. Readers from all walks of life can identify with the emotions conveyed through them. The author uses various subjects, including dreams, inner spaces, skills, and life’s purpose; the poems explore existential and spiritual themes of life and death. They give raw and primary perspectives on aging-related themes that summarize life’s journey. These include age’s significance and value, time’s passage, and the struggle to discover meaning and contentment inside ourselves.

Each poem is well-written and reflects the poet’s profound connection with nature, people, and happenings around her. For example, poems along the lines of middle age evoke a feeling of tension. Poems also reflect the author’s observational skills and her resolve to live life fully as the lines “I am free then / Unbounded. Unchained.” in the poem “Unbounded” of the book.

The book contains many poems that follow the same poetic form and writing style, like rhymes, which become commonplace to the reader’s attention. The phrasing sometimes comes out as cliche, overused, and overly sentimental. Individually each poem invokes emotions in the reader; the book, as a whole, attempts to invoke deeper feelings, a sense of nostalgia, sorrow, and deep introspection which often comes when dealing with wide-ranging themes such as faith and existentialism.

Overall, having a central theme will make the book feel more authentic and contemporary. This will help strike a chord with readers from all walks of life, predominantly middle-aged readers who can relate to the emotions and experiences the poet writes about with regards to growing old.