THE LOVER'S RHAPSODY

In this collection, a poet seeks love throughout the world and in its many different forms.

“I am a vagabond, / always traveling, / always exploring, / seeking life’s treasures / around the world,” Siddiq writes in “The Vagabond.” That sense of traveling is felt throughout his work, in which he displays consistent awe toward creation of all kinds, from desert landscapes to metaphorical cities fallen into ruin. This sense of scope is reinforced by the colorful stock photographs that accompany each poem, depicting fantastical night skies; historical sites, such as the city of Petra, Jordan; waterfalls and canyons; and the arresting gazes of several different women. The impetus for Siddiq’s quest, it becomes clear, is love: “Oh Love! / Everywhere I turn, / Your Fragrance beckons me /….Where have you taken me?” Throughout, “Love” becomes a persona that transfixes the poet, whether it takes the form of romantic entanglements (as in the short, fiery “The Lover’s Insanity”), familial love (as in the poem “A Tribute to Mothers”), or the love of a higher power: One poem’s speaker cries out, “Oh God! / Where are you?” The same sense of wonder that Siddiq brings to describing landscapes and quests also comes into play in speaking about the deity: “God is everywhere / and in every here.” The author’s poems are certainly filled with passion, including images of love that drives one mad and cosmic forces of fate and destiny. However, the theme of constantly seeking love eventually becomes repetitive, and the poems themselves tend to rely on repetitious stanzas, such as: “Everything You see...,” “Everything You bless...,” “Everything You kiss...,” “Everything You whisper…..” As a result, there are few surprises here. Still, there’s an undeniable joy in his contemplations of powerful emotions: “Tipsily whirling / in cosmic wonderment / as Love spins me.”

A passionate, if somewhat predictable, collection of love poems.