Finding Freedom with Pappadà
Guest Post by Linda Bullock.
Elda Pappadà‘s book of poems, Freedom is divided into three parts: love, loss, and understanding. Pappadà invites her readers to crawl inside and look outside her window. They will find her inner tapestry, an amazing although sometimes painful place to be, and experience the joy of her love, sensual delights, confusion, sadness, anger, and abject despair.
Pappadà‘s facility with poetic devices and her ability to use words that immediately trigger a surprising visual image can be seen in the poem “My Man“: “He gives four hands / before being asked, / speaks transparent truth / inside, cotton softness, / outside, skin tougher / than tree bark”.
Elda’s decision to include the age-old nature vs. nurture question in considering her relationships is a brilliant addition to the uniqueness of the piece, as we can see in “Built In”: “Patterned from childhood, / our personalities fated / to be incompatible; / crossing path, / we find ourselves / curious, intrigued, / and filled with longing.”
The poet’s truths act as a catalyst for self-discovery. The artwork on the cover of Freedom also displays this—a dream-like female image seems to be moving away from a red chair but we don’t get the feeling she is trying to escape. She seems to be observing/living into her journey and patiently waiting for the fog to lift. Readers will return again and again to Pappadà‘s poems and understand that self-knowledge, and personal integrity gained through remaining present and examining one’s life experiences are what freedom is all about.
Freedom by Elda Pappadà. FriesenPress, 2020.
Reviewer bio: Linda Bullock is a published poet and a painter. She worked for 45 years in the mental health sector of the health care system and her art often reflects her experiences and focuses on the human condition.
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