Fireworks in a Sleepy Sky

Michael Reffold’s Fireworks in a Sleepy Sky is the kind of poetry collection that will speak to you on all levels. It is easily understandable and brings right to mind the stumbling blocks that might be our own past relationships. His words and specifically the similes come across faultlessly fresh on the page; an example: “You could watch the trees outside/Shake their leaves like soapy hands.” This image and many others permeate the brain with such a sharp and visual approach that it’s hard to disengage yourself from the collection. Reffold’s ability to instantly connect with his readers is no small feat. It is something that authors and poets do their best to achieve and not many are able to find that successful linking element that joins the reader to the page in such a quick and seamless process. The poems within touch on subjects that we all find ourselves railing against in some form or fashion–a lost love, psychological illness, and the conglomerate that we muddle through and have come to know of as life. Anyone who values the inner workings of the mind and humanity in general will crave this book. It’s one for the shelf.