Review: What Happened?

Review: What Happened?
Poems by Mark SaFranko

At Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0BVNVM4VW/

You can certainly judge a book by it’s cover if the writer’s name on the cover is “Mark SaFranko”. Besides, this is also a welcome variant of SaFranko’s skills. It’s a collection of poems — not a novel or short story. Yet, the poetry is not immediately new. It has percolated over thirty years and distilled into justifiable collection of colorful gems, stones that we may or may not value — glimpses of genuine emotion, sparkling in the ordinary. A retrospection of life and desires of the living.

These poems amalgamates two talents of SaFranko — the well-known fiction writer and the lesser known musician. While straddling those steeds, he also ‘draws’ in some essence of his paintings, of his self-portraits. The poems may be a sudden surprise to his readers, yet it does not appear to be a ‘first attempt’ after you start on this journey of discovery….page after page pulling you in deeper into a labyrinth of thoughts, deeds, memories, feelings, experiences.

World’s of Mark SaFranko are anything but dreamy. If anything, these poems awaken you to the present and look for what’s important, what you already have that fulfills you.

Getting back to the book cover, the set of poems are a peek-a-boo into dozens of windows, some in shadows, some glaring in daylight, others flickering, neon and blood red. Having known SaFranko and interviewed him at length, I know him to be humble and patient and allow his work to present his style and persona. With age, the art and craft of his storytelling has morphed from straight up whiskey to fine wine. You don’t down this one in a gulp like beer, you allow your senses to dwell in it, capturing each poem in taste of the new and the familiar.

I wouldn’t say what happened is a trip down memory lane or a recap of events that shaped lives or an inquiry within one’s consciousness. What Happened is an experiential product that helps you find very much human inclinations that you believed only others were damned with. So open up to the flood gates and let Anxiety Press push some spirit into your cuppa called ‘life’. Life happened; because so be it.

If you would like to read one of the few short stories of SaFranko published by FreedomFiction.com or a review of one of his novels, start from the ones linked below.

Read a four page interview with SaFranko by clicking here.
https://freedomfiction.com/2009/09/interview-with-author-mark-safranko/

The Laughter of the Clown by Mark SaFranko
https://freedomfiction.com/2018/01/the-laughter-of-the-clown-by-mark-safranko/

Everyman’s Author: A Review of “Dirty Work”
https://freedomfiction.com/2014/09/everymans-author-a-review-of-dirty-work-of-author-mark-safranko/

Review by Editor/s of FreedomFiction.com 2023