A book filled with beautiful and impactful poetry from a skilled artist and storyteller shows readers how nicely love and inspiration translate into literature.
A Poetic Spanking is a collection of approximately a hundred and more poems, each conveying different purposes and insights from the author, yet ideally weaving into one complete and insightful piece. Anthony Toomer chose the befitting words for a title that perfectly encapsulates his intentions for the book. A Poetic Spanking does feel like getting slapped in the face with the truth and wisdom about society, individual endeavors, and attraction in poetry form.
The book is divided into three chapters, or ‘books’ as Toomer calls it. Each of these covers different topics that are significant in the author’s life.
Chapter One
The first chapter includes poems centering on religion. It explores the concept of faith, encouraging people to believe in the idea of the greater good and the ultimate provider. Personally, this chapter appealed to me as though Toomer wrote these poems similar to the Bible. But instead of narratives, he writes it through poetry. These poems were inspired by or molded after the prominent characters and concepts from the Bible, each with lessons and guidance as to how one should live – what they should worship, and how they should care for God’s creation.
Chapter Two
Unexpectedly, his second chapter takes on an entirely different topic from the previous one. In this chapter, he writes more intimate poems about his entire romantic story. Without giving too many details, this chapter narrates the moment he started catching feelings for his wife, to when they fell in love, and even when they fell out of love, until the moment they tied the knot. Chapter two perfectly displays the ups and downs of every relationship, defining that love isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. It can have storms and days of blues too.
Chapter Three
Lastly, the third chapter tackles matters about the society that, as a black author, he may have personally experienced or he has enough insight about. He discusses racism, unlike any other author, as he narrates the stories he knows and communicates his opinions through beautifully and delicately written poetry. The usage of poetry to present this matter is indeed a very effective means to write in a way that it’s intuitive without making it a tedious material for the audience to consume.
While poetry, as a material, might be commonly utilized to express romance and affection, Anthony Toomer uses it to inform the general public of graver concepts.
Poems might have a reputation as soft literary material. It’s typically used to convey confessions and doting sentiments and is rarely ever used to impart revolutionary or meaningful ideas. Yet, Toomer took the challenge and nailed it, short to say. What I found amusing about his book is that Toomer managed to add his tone, making every piece uniquely his own. He wrote his poems to sound more modern and “hip” – for the lack of a better term – without taking away the grace of poetry. Despite most of his chosen topics carrying a somber tone, he wrote about them entertainingly while hitting all the significant points and keeping them meaningful.
This book is for anyone who’s looking for great poetry.
Since the book contains poems tackling different topics, it would not be easy to point to a specific crowd as its best-fitting audience. However, A Poetic Spanking is a book to recommend to anyone interested in poetry for the same reason.
If you’re looking for a great book about religion, faith, and belief, you can learn a lot from Anthony Toomer as he wrote one of his chapters as a compilation of lessons people should get from the Bible. A Poetic Spanking can be for anyone seeking enlightenment with their feelings or anyone who feels alone and needs romance in their day. As Anthony fills his book with so much passionate poetry for his wife, one may also be able to find answers and clarity about their emotions. Lastly, it can also be for someone who desires to be educated about prejudices and issues observed in society, be more aware of what others are experiencing, and be more empathic about these people. Therefore, if you believe you belong to any of these groups, you should try Anthony Toomer’s A Poetic Spanking.