Customer Reviews

Unscrambled Eggs

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Nadia Brown presents a collection of poems that is a rich tapestry of words. 'Unscrambled Eggs", is intimate and compelling coming across sometimes as a confession, then again, reflective. Brown's poems often speak to her readers in imperatives, giving the reader quite a lot to ponder.

Ms. Brown has a way with a metaphor, creating an interesting expression of imagery that tickles one's imagination.

I think you will enjoy this book, and like me, you will be revisiting it often. I highly recommend it.


Reviewed by Tammy Lynn Whisman

Nadia Brown has written a very thought provoking book of poetry, one that will truly challenge the mind and its ability to comprehend a much deeper venue of thoughts. These thoughts are what Nadia brings to her readers through her book, Unscrambled eggs. Nadia Brown resides with her family in Miami, Florida.

Through Nadia Browns poetry, she reveals her true spiritual insights. She shares experiences of her past and portrays them through exceptional writing skills. Her writing style is unique and refreshing.

Unscrambles Eggs is a definite must to read for anyone that desires a challenge of the mind. One of my personnel favorites is the poem titled, "Perfect". I myself am somewhat of a perfectionist, and felt as if Nadia was describing me through her writings. I do not doubt that most of her readers have experienced a similar feeling when reading Unscrambled Eggs.

Thank you Nadia brown for introducing my mind to your unique words of life!

Nadia Brown has given us 5 years of her life in prose - the disappointments, joys, expectations and concerns that have made up that time. The poems that she offers are quite different from other commercially available collections of prose out there, ranging from short little bites of life, like "Pebble", to others more like short essays - such as the particularly affecting "Before I Knew Better". However what they all have in common is a touching thread of sadness woven throughout.

If you enjoy modern poetry this is a lovely and heartfelt collection. It's the sort of book that you can leave lying around and pick up and dip into when you feel so inclined. It would make a lovely gift for a friend who is having a time of some reflection - many of the poems will have resonance for someone who is undergoing some life change.

All in all quite an acomplished collection, well worth your time.

Poet Nadia Brown gifts the reader with prose that flows like cosmic spiritual energy at times. In her wonderful and intelligent collection of verses called "Unscrambled Eggs", she captures emotions and inner observations with a unique wording that catches the reader's attention and more importantly, their understanding. She puts feelings that are universal in a word picture that all of us can fully see and understand.

Most poetry is written merely to reflect a poet's depression, anger or frustration with life but Ms. Brown uses her obvious talent to phrase and frame her heart and soul like an artist sharing a landscape on a canvas. This small book of poems is powerful and special and well written. The key with her poetry is that it does not come off as pretentious or superficial but goes right to the emotional heart of her themes. She does not waste excessive words. Readers will have an easy and an enjoyable experience with this book.

This is a must read book for poetry lovers. The American Author's Association gives this book it highest rating - FIVE STARS!

Awarded: The American Authors Association`s Poetry Book of Merit Award for 2005.

UNSCRAMBLED EGGS by Nadia Brown is a compilation of 60 poems that deal with everday life experiences. It encourages you to find your purpose in life and fulfill your dreams. A couple of the poems that stand out to me are: "Unavoidable Truth", which is a touching poem dealing with a lost and uncertain love. "Perfect" touches on not settling for average, give and expect nothing but perfection. "If You Knew" focuses on how people wear masks as if everything is alright when in actuality they have bills overdue and their future is bleak.

UNSCRAMBLED EGGS is an inspiring book of poetry that encourages and uplifts you. Each poem is short and written in a smooth flow that grasps and keeps your attention. A descriptive book that shows you that you aren't the only one dealing with issues, have dreams to pursue and a divine life purpose that needs to be filled. Brown's debut is sure to win the hearts of poetry lovers everywhere.

Reviewed by Eraina B. Tinnin
of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Unscrambled Eggs is a simply outstanding collection showcasing the intimate, personal, inspiring and conceptual poetry of Nadia Brown. Fathom: Marlboro's fumes have/choked all sense from your brain/taste for language/laden with four-letter curses/sweetens your tongue/like roasted cacao beans.//Apparently sound reasons/cannot permeate thoughts/of a childlike man/prone to dealing tantrums like moody two-year-olds.//No need for sermons/or lectures on your wants/kindly leave those orders/for someone else.

Unscrambled Eggs is a lyrical album of profound poetry. It glistens with quiet reflection entangled with sentiments of abandonment. Forlorn, lost, adrift on a sea of real emotions - Nadia Brown speaks with words not often combined. Take, for example, the following stanza from "Deprived."

My Crayola lips
plum of eyes, cello of body
are sick with need.

Crayola lips. Cello body. Sick with need. In thirteen short words we sense the image of a woman painfully alone and uncomfortable in her body. In the last stanza, we are assured of this stinging vision.

A rousing verse,
a mangled rose, a sigh of jazz
all sings your absence

Nadia Brown's imagery is strong and unexpected. The combinations of words are surprising, refreshing. These are not common poems. The tang of gritty despondency permeates the pages, in spite of the artistic composition. There is no pretense here. No false polish, cute rhyming schemes, nor purposeful cadence. In such an environment, only the imagery stands alone, spilling honest visions on the page.

Among the sixty verses lies another favorite, "There Were No Bells."

She said there were no bells,
only her clam hands
and fretful feet rattled in the eve.
The sirens would not go off
nor did her knees faint
from the tie-dye of bliss
She felt no quakes,
no bumble bees,
no panic sharks reeling
in the pint of her belly.
Not once did her shoelace hair
curl like ringlets
not once did she hear bells.


Uncommon pairings, curious verbs, and a splash of liberating spirit develop as the poetry travels through time. As Ms. Brown works through emotions of despair, a stronger woman evolves. The work sings of survival while painting distinctive images of the world.

Examine these vivid phrases from "Fishing for Salmon."

a laundry of birds gather
in a fold like sheep
like a fistful of jellybeans in a bottle

and:

there is some wind
flossing back and forth between homes


This unpretentious yet moving collection of poetry will earn a place of honor on your bookshelf. Don't be surprised if you are drawn to reread it over and over again.

If a book is short and carries choice verse, few would leave it to a second sitting. Miami author Nadia brown instantiates this assertion in her first book of poetry Unscrambled Eggs (Publish America, Baltimore, 2005). A collection of sixty poems, Unscrambled Eggs is an artistic pluck in the floating stillness of mundane thought. A daring, dissenting return to self-respect is the upshot of Miss Brown's poetry.

The individual poems in the book are short, each centered closely on a distinct point. Tone varies from aspiring to confessional, though never leaving the self-conscious position of a deserving soul in the broad social milieu. Themes explored are more humanistic, less illusory or sentimental, and crucial to one's self-esteem. Social injustice in Sea of Poor (in a country of gold and ledger, lies a sea of poor), self-respect in The Lesson Learned (Yet I exceed, your scant recognition) an urge on poet's art to be more than mere words in Liquid Muse (what good are handsome metaphors, when profoundness eludes your pen), the nature of skin-deep, lie-loving love in Unforeseen Affair (it was not maliciousness, that hastened you away, but truth), and many vital issues are taken up in a mere 70 pages.

Unscrambled Eggs defies the conventional, the prejudiced, and whets the human spirit with determination, hope, unyielding fidelity to one's purpose, and confession of one's own fallibilities. There is a strong penchant for a purpose in life, at times growing morose. But the poetess never fails in keeping hold of the softness that opens the reader's unbiased ear. This is achievement.

The degree of freedom with which the themes involve us is maintained in the lack of absence of end rhymes, reinforcing the mode of free, unprejudiced writing. Alliteration is not ardently employed and rhythm solely bears the characterization of verse. Nevertheless, the balance is secured. Cadence is not perfect but melodious and smooth. A quality that cannot go unappreciated is the feeling of fullness in each and every poem; no brusque truncations.

The crux of Miss Brown's book is enmeshed in two poems sparkling with brilliance. Suppose glances wistfully at the irreversibility of time and its damage.

`imagine life as a chalkboard
where errors are erased'

And certainly, the title poem Unscrambled Eggs pictures the `holes of the size of mountains' each of us has in his or her life. How assiduously we try to refill them, the task is no easier than unscrambling eggs.

`but when will I learn
I can no more unscramble eggs
Than change the past'

Unscrambled Eggs is a gift to poetry lovers.

What a delight it was to read from "Unsrambled Eggs". The author, Nadia Brown, shows a maturity in her writing, far beyond her years. She delves into what life is all about for most of us, and puts it on our plate, face up. A highly suggested read:)

I enjoyed reading this book because it reflects on experiences that I have gone through, so it is easy to relate to what the writer is saying. This book also touches on different issues such as religion, racism, love, and everyday life experiences, it was a pleasure reading it.