Nostalgia – Poetry and Paintings about Beauty, Love and Loss comprises forty-eight of Pagès’ short poems, each one aligned with one of her paintings that reflects the poem’s message and mood. Her words and images speak of her nostalgia for England’s landscape when she came to live in the U.S., as well as her awe of natural beauty in general, her gardens are full of gnomes, fairies and moonlit messages, and her songs of birds, water and trees assure us of nature’s continued companionship and support throughout disappointments, trials and losses. The painting for her poem, “Song of a Flock of Birds” shows the lonely figure of a girl “weighed down by loss and gravity,” watching birds wing their way above a desert through a sunset sky. “Fly with us, little lost soul,” they call to her. “Follow us, and you will be light as air …for everything is flight and song.” Light, and the music and color of nature, remind us of a beauty that changes but never fades, and of continued hope even during times of loss.
Five Star Review from Readers’ Favorite
Reviewed by Ruffina Oserio
Nostalgia: Poems and Paintings of Beauty, Love, and Loss by Christina M. Pages is a collection of inspirational poems that reflect the beauty of nature, explore the hidden, somewhat imperceptible movements of the heart, the longing of the human spirit, the thrill of love, the sense of loss, and the quest for a spiritual anchor. The style is very evocative and filled with symbolism. The author’s sense of imagery is refined and it is interesting how she uses images from nature to convey landscapes of the heart and that which is felt deeply in the soul. There are many appealing poems, some that are deep and provoke reflection, and some that are just gems to savor.
This is a beautiful collection and the illustrations add not only color but paths for the reader’s mind to travel. They are beautifully illustrated. There is beauty in each of the poems, and whether they capture a moment in the life of the personae, express an aspiration, or tell a story, they are filled with humanity. One of my favorites is “Beyond Space,” a poem with strong spiritual themes:
“I kept searching for you in the hollow
void of skies, deserts, and hills.
But today, I came to see
that space, air, and time
don’t hold you
as they do me,
and I stopped looking for you.
That’s when I heard our song
inside a tree
drenching me, until
all empty crevices were full.”
Nostalgia: Poems and Paintings of Beauty, Love, and Loss feature poems that are short and Christina M. Pages’ economy of word comes across in the poems brilliantly. Each word seems to be well-chosen to take its place in a line. Here is a collection that will thrill fans of poetry and will remind them of the beauty of living.
