Customer Reviews

Raven's Rants: The First Five Years

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I can't believe the reviews I'm reading. This...this is what passes as good poetry? It's not poetry but rather some arrogant, self-glorifying, shallow junior-high kid's diary. "Dear Diary, Raven is sad. So sad. Um....and dark. Yeah, that's it. I'm really, really, really, dark. So sad and dark. I'm so sensitive that life affects me more than it does other people. They just can't understand what deep, sensitive people like me and my readers go through..." Good God, save me from this shallow, poorly written drivel. How can you reviewers really read serious living poets like Paul Muldoon, Christian Bok, Seamus Heany, Billy Collins, Alicia Ostriker, C. K. Williams, and so many others who are really producing work that illuminates and transcends and still call at this confessional tripe by the sacred name of poetry. I'm just dumbfounded. I can actually feel the intelligence being sucked out of my brain as read a Raven "poem" featured on the website about being "haunted" by memories of an ex. Hideously clunky, devoid of anything new, entirely confessional and specific to the author. It is as if it were written by a high school freshman.

I have not actually read Ravens book but i go to his site at least once a week. His work is amazing and truly accompanied by depth. They are beautifully mastered peices and are told in raw human emotion. If ever i was a writer i would wish to be that of the pride and power Raven has in his pen. His site is truly applauded by myself and many others and sorry to say Mr Olsen but you don't know what your on about. It may take a certain perspective to see the beauty in Ravens work and you obviously don't have that perspective. I pray to whatever god you follow that you will one day get it and be able to enjoy the powerful writings of Raven.

When I first visited www.ravensrants.com, I was impressed with the authenticity and candidness that Raven used to express universal emotion through his poems. He truly has a gift for expressing emotions through masterfully woven words. Though most of his poetry does focus on the pains felt in life, pain which I'm sure almost everyone has felt at some point or another, a few do deal with love and more positive emotions.
Over the past three years, I have read almost everything on his website. The short stories are inspired with unique concepts and twists. His essays, shoots, and rants touch on subjects that not everyone wants to pay attention to and usually take the side which goes against popular culture.
Raven is a master of the English language and his interersting perspective on life is inspiring. He tries, and in many cases succeeds, in showing different angles to a common story. Congratulations Raven on your success.

Are you people reading the same book as me? This book is terrible; I could be more entertained with a single corn flake than I was with this book. I expected a little more from this "world famous" author. I say, no more expensive sleeping aids and visits to the sleep clinic, just buy this book. Page after page of whining, is what I call it. There was more whine in this bit of "literature" than all of France. Comparable to Edgar Allan Poe? Certainly not! There was meter and rhyme schemes and brilliant construction of classicly eerie gothic storytelling. I saw nothing of that in this book. I've seen more thought-out pieces of poetry in preschools. I will admit, Raven is good at journalistic style work, but if he's a poet, I'm a ferret.

In the short span of time that I have known him, Raven has opened my eyes to countless things with his witty remarks and sly comments. His words are both wise and powerful, and I hope that other people will benifit from his work as much as I have. This book is a testament to a brave soul willing to be different, and the quality that he brings to the table is phenomenal.

I have read every piece of work that Raven has written on his site, and yet it is the same every time. He expresses his emotions in ways that we can all relate to. He is a very smart person. I know one thing is for cretin he is a great writer.

Maybe, Mr. Olson, you don't realize that poetry isn't always a rhyme and meter pattern. Well, I'm here to enlighten you. Raven is a wonderful poet, filled with raw emotion that pours out of his well arranged words. I do, however, agree with a SINGLE thing you said. He is not comparable to Poe. Poe and Raven are worlds apart in time and power. Each of them has their own way with words and each uses them to their advantage. Props to Raven for a wonderful book.

First, Raven isn't a world famous poet. I have read his whole book and it was excelent. I don't know why Trent said this book was terrible, but it wasn't. I'm sure Raven doesn't mind the negative reviews, but i do because this wasn't a bad book. Raven is as such a great poet as "Egar Alan Poe" is. I have read both and i am indeed impressed with both poets not just one. Raven, I irrevocably say that your a great poet. Subdue the brutish humanity of people and persist with your beautiful words that have inspired me greatly.

This book has opened the new wave of poetry for everone from teen's to older adults. Raven has expressed emotions for the people of today not masked by political or deferential responses. I would have to say I would compare him to Edgar Alen Poe. His writings are both deep and aluring in a world of today surounded by stero-types. He is an extreamly beautiful writer and has astonished me along with many of my peers. I have had the pleasure of talking to him for a few months now and he is one of the greatest guys i know! Thanks raven love you!