Ouma’s lines of poetry hold onto naked truths

Media personality Ann Landers once said “the naked truth is always better than the best dressed lie”, which is also this poetry collection’s opening salvo. Immediately, thereupon, the reader is put on notice that the unvarnished truth is about to be shared by the author, Joel Ouma.
It is a brave and bold step in view of the truth often boomeranging on the truth teller, so called. Still, the author forges ahead, amid this potential danger, to lend credence to this collection’s title.
  
Aptly titled “Naked Verses”, this poetry collection is a reflection of Ouma’s thoughts, feelings and experiences as a vehicle to connect with the reader who might have shared similar experiences, thoughts and feelings. 
As the book breaks proverbial bread, then, it casts its confessional and intellectual crumbs across four chapters, each with its own theme consisting of five poems that explore varying aspects of life, love, and the human condition.
The first chapter, A Poet in Love, takes you on a journey through the realities of falling in love, being broken by it and the emotions that come with it to ensure that you become strong where you were once broken.
 
The second chapter, A Ghetto Poet, explores the struggles and triumphs of life in the ghetto as the human spirit is elevated by patience in the face of one’s struggles and gratitude in the midst of one’s triumphs. 
The third chapter, An Optimist, is an ode to the power of positive thinking as a lamp of self-love is shone upon the darkness of self-doubt. Even when faced with seemingly insurmountable odds, the reader is exhorted to keep their heads up and shoulders broad. 

The fourth chapter, A Son of Woman, is a tribute to the strength and resilience of women and their role in shaping the world we live in, “with tribute poems to a few females I have encountered and found excitingly amazing. Every chapter of Naked Verses starts with a preamble, to introduce you to the specific atmosphere you’re about to experience in that specific section of the book,” author adds. 
So these poems are thus confessional eulogia (which is Greek for “a blessing”) meant to have the all-embracing oomph of a bear hug from a long lost love. 

Speaking of love, let us take a look at the poem, “A Valentine, A muse”:-
“We talked of Keats and Shelley’s wit/And how their words made us feel it. Our connection was instant, pure and true/As I fell for the likes of her, so new. 
    As we walk the streets of Kampala’s night/We know our love will be a sight. A love that’s deep and full of grace/A love that’ll never be out of place.”

John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelley, mentioned here by the poet, were arguably two of the foremost English Romantic lyric poets. Sadly, they died young, like Romeo and Juliet, possibly because romantics are on a collision course with an unfeeling world and this rarely ends well for the romantic. 
As we grow older, we become more cynical and jaded. This could be why the world is overpopulated by cynics and under-populated by romantics. 

Book Title: Naked Verses: Poetry Written With An Open Heart
Author: Joel Ouma
Year of Publication: 2023
Pages: 51
Price: £16.42
Where: Amazon