by Samuel E. Cole
for a taste of Dollhouse Masquerade, click here
a collection of poetry, published April / May 2018
ISBN (paperback) 978-1-925536-43-0 / ISBN (eBook) 978-1-925536-44-7
to purchase Dollhouse Masquerade click here for paperback / Amazon Kindle / Barnes and Noble Nook / Kobobooks / iBookstore / ePub
What people are saying about Dollhouse Masquerade
After Samuel E. Cole penned with astonishing imagery and psychological depth Bereft and the Same-Sex Heart, the question arose whether he could follow such virtuosity with a repeat performance. Dollhouse Masquerade proves Cole’s talent won’t quit. The varied tropes so successful in Bereft are here fashioned into an encore that will send a growing audience leaping to their feet with bravos. The “same sex” motif continues, exploring desire and disappointment in a way that resonates with all orientations, “linking our curious rhythms.” Every word has gone through endless exacting rehearsals to shine in such lines as “freeing our enslaved hearts from the monster / masks handcrafted by injected scrim.” Other themes include family (“parents are such / unreliable narrators”), animals (a sea bird “adrift / in wing-dipped baptism”), religion, the menace of culture and entr’actes of digital frolic and playful lexical effects. These are poems not only to be read, but to be memorized.
~ John-Ivan Palmer, author of Motels of Burning Madness
Samuel E. Cole is one of my favorite poets. His voice is real and insightful. He finds significance in the seemingly ordinary and explores it with precision. The very finest of wordsmith sizzle.
~ Ted King, author of New Beat and Coyote
Samuel E. Cole’s poetry collection, Dollhouse Masquerade, captures sentiment and observance in cunning detail, wit, and elegance. Each poem reveals excitement amidst a bevy of raw distinction—a flower / offers little scent / to a predetermined mind. Cole writes with honesty, fairness, and intelligence, describing vividly and wittingly both free verse and ceremonial forms. The topics are a vast as the imagination within its core.
~ Marge Barrett, Poet, My Memoir Dress, Finishing Line Press
It’s hard to match Samuel E. Cole’s lyricism. In “Instinct,” it’s the visualization of the child’s “heartbeat adrift/among the sounds of/cosmic collision”; the natural imagery as foreground in “Cherry Horses”; and the narrative of poverty wailing “multitude horrors” in “Epiglottis.” And then the seismic deluge continues, page after page, until the very final word crashes in and spreads across the sand.
~ The Write Launch Literary Magazine
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