Point of Reference

"Some of the poems are very insightful and make you delve into the topic questioning your own beliefs. Others are very dark and I felt very uneasy reading them as if I was looking into someone's soul and their deepest, darkest secrets."
Bobbie Lutz
Dover, Delaware

"Poetry is a metaphor for life and humans have worked to reflect our lives in poetry the way other craftsman have left their marks on the world in stone or marble. The effect of poetry as art is similar, and as profound, and often as lasting and durable in its own form. In his latest collection of poetry, Mr. Seals has gathered ideas as diverse as can be conceived, but their disparity holds common the art of humanity. Images of cows in pasture share pages with grappling with a father's death and the author's thoughts on extremist ideals. It is obvious from the beginning through the end that Mr. Seals wishes to provoke thoughts on tough topics and hold a mirror to the ideals we sometimes hold dear. Many of the pieces he has chosen for the collection tackle topics that we as a community often deal with and even dwell on, but topics we rarely choose for polite discussion. These issues are dealt with in digestible parts that help us quantify and understand our own emotions. One's decision to have an abortion, or dealing with domestic abuse in a religion that condemns divorce are not debates we often choose to have, but issues that require thought and consideration nonetheless. Good poetry succeeds when it exposes life's truths in a way that makes us re-examine our beliefs and re-consider the viewpoints. Mr. Seals succeeds in squaring the righteous and moral with his sparse prose and lays bare many emotionally fraught issues."
Amanda MacDonnell
Yorktown, Virginia

"Opening R. B. Seals' poetry collection...is like taking a peak into someone's diary. These lyrical poems offer the reader thought-provoking metaphors about the realities of the world...."
-ForeWord Reviews

"The author...has a knack for nostalgic dream-weaving; poems (that)...are light, fast-moving odes to better days. (His) affinity for regular rhyme...(invite) readers to (explore) their own pasts."
-KIRKUS REVIEWS

"(Point of Reference) tackle(s) topics that we as a community often deal with and even dwell on, but topics we rarely choose for polite discussion."
-blueink REVIEW