Poetry Review

Tortoise Dances
by Dennis Goza
ISBN-10: 1411612493
Review by Heather Froeschl

"Tortoise Dances" is a unique book of poetry that found its inspiration in the ancient I Ching, or "Book of Changes." The poem's messages do not necessarily portray the I Ching, however, the format of the poems is reflective of the 64 hexagrams.

This author is quite the artist in his poetry. Each work is a six line poem that is broken into the patterns of the I Ching, meaning that for each solid line of the hexagrams there are nine syllables in that line of text, and so on. Each poem is titled for a hexagram and the author offers some of the translations, both literal and figurative, for the reader to ponder.

The poems are thought provoking for what they are alone, on topics varying from a soldier's march to a woman trying to control nature's growth, from the breaking of bread to the dance of the maypole. The poetry also provokes thought on the I Ching. The author professes that this was not the intention but I feel it is a happy result. The study of the I Ching is a great and rewarding endeavor.

Dennis Goza offers an interesting collection of poetry that is both entertaining and inspiring.