In the Shade of a Flower

"In the Shade of a Flower" is Jean-Yves Solinga's third book. It is not only a wonderful selection of poetry, with select French translations, but supported and contextualized by an extensive prologue and epilogue of previously unpublished essays called, "Multiple Realities." The essays explore Jean-Yves' core intellectual reasoning, beliefs and concepts that underpin this collection and define his philosophy as a writer, poet and artist. The poems in section I "Totems of the Universe" have a hard edge and are where Jean-Yves examines the "coexistence" of mankind in the midst of an inanimate Universe. "One, mankind, is aware, flashy and temporal, the other, stiff, uninterested and usually not interesting [outside of sunrises and sunsets] but seemingly immortal." By contrast, the poems in section II "Droplets of Time" are more ethereal and introspective. "Mankind may not win the battle against the "formidability" of things; but, in it, they may find themselves grabbing onto the pieces left in the present in order to find some survival, some comfort and hopefully remembrance." "In the Shade of a Flower," will live with you for a long time because it is in that delicate metaphorical shade we all at times seek shelter and sanctuary from the maelstrom of our own surd existence. It is also where the unique voice of a truly exceptional existential humanist poet, Jean-Yves Solinga, resides.