Share the love

First Impression: Centralized around common themes and imagery, this book provides value for money with its dense collection of poetry.

Dancing with the Moon - Poems of the heart book cover

With heartfelt gratitude, I wish to thank Steven Davison for the free copy of this book he gifted me in exchange for an honest review. I cannot stress enough how much the generosity of authors helps keep this blog going.

Dancing with the Moon: Poetry of the Heart is a collection of 76 heartfelt poems related to romance and relationships. In his work, Steven Davison explores the delights of falling in love and creating intimacy. The work then takes a turn to look at the flip side of love when it starts to unravel and fall apart.

The opening poem, Dancing with the Moon, gives a sense of the changing mood that is to come. It foretells the difficult relationship with writing: the commitment to it, the struggling through it, and the eventual acceptance of what the relationship is.

As the poems progress, the earlier ones appear more fanciful. They toil with the idea of intimate liaisons, be it a wander from a jazz bar to the car, or the development of a casual friendship. All the while, the moon is kept as a fairly central theme that crops up in the different works as a sensual being.

We amble slowly and usually talk

to pause among the rocks and

Blueming irises. It is early even now.

There are some poems that are eye-catching for various reasons. As with the extract above, there are unusual spellings that provide a unique take on the stanza. Equally there are some curious layouts for the poems that convey a sense of pace to read at. These features are a great addition to the poetry as each piece already has a polished feel and works hard to evoke several senses at once. The polished feel is also achieved via connectivity. Common imagery crops up, fog, hearts, eyes, smiles. It’s not noticeable at first, but as the reading persists the reader’s relationship deepens with each of these concepts as they become more familiar with them. It makes the book seem as though it has been staged and arranged in this way deliberately.

The book is suited to a mature audience with a literary love. The poems are complex and not intended to rush through. With each reading of each work, more and more can be pulled from the text upon which to reflect. Though they are not explicit in nature, nor do they use profanities, they take a worldly-wise look at relationships and explain them in an intricate way that is difficult for younger audiences to process. This is a book to be devoured over time. The collection itself is great value for money, but reading all at once feels like a heavy burden.

Quick Rating: ⭐⭐⭐ / R Rated

Have you say: If you were to write a poem, what would be your subject of choice? Tell the Papergirl Community via the comments below.

Disclaimer: Clicking on links may direct you to Papergirl branded products, or Papergirl endorsed items for which there is an affiliation. It will not affect your purchases or prices in any way, but it may mean that Papergirl earns a small commission from any successful sales.

Wondering what to review next, consider:

I love to get my hands on Advanced Reader Copies a generous amount of time before the book is released. So, I would like to offer you the opportunity to de-stress for a $25 reward in conjunction with the health benefits. Clicking here gives you access to my Reedsy referral link. Following acceptance of a short application, select up to 5 books from the library. All they ask in return is a short, honest review of the text by the specified launch date. For your first review, you and I will both earn $25. Thereafter, commission is earned through tips.