True Amazone - Foreword
By Kathy Grant
Poetry is considered the high and lofty expression of
a thought, an idea, a concept or a story in a structured form which has a flow
and a ‘music’ created by the sounds and syllables in it.
Poetry is offered in several styles. These styles are
defined by the number of lines in each stanza, the syllables used in each line
or the structures of rhyme used. Poets from all over the world have used over
fifty-one different styles of poetic writing to craft their thoughts and words
into a thing of beauty.
Legendary and laureate poets such as William
Shakespeare and Alfred Tennyson crafted words into laurels of roses or
paintings of graphic ships on the rollicking seas and won them centuries of
admirers. They used elements and structures of sonnets, quatrains, ballades and
lyric verse to convey their life philosophies or worldviews. Every poet will
approach the craft of poetry from a different point of view. Inevitably, that
worldview is going to seep in, either intentionally or unintentionally.
True AMAZONe is a prose and
poetic journey via several formulaic vehicles such as Bio (A poem written about
one self's life, personality traits, and ambitions), Canzone (Medieval Italian
lyric style poetry with five or six stanzas and a shorter ending stanza.),
Carpe Diem (Carpe diem poems have a theme of living for today), Couplet (A
couplet has rhyming stanzas made up of two lines), Free verse (vers libre) (Poetry written in
either rhyme or unrhymed lines that have no set fixed metrical pattern.), Haiku
(A Japanese poem composed of three unrhymed lines of five, seven, and five
syllables, usually about some form of nature), Blank verse (A poem written in
unrhymed iambic pentameter and is often unobtrusive. The iambic pentameter form
often resembles the rhythms of speech.
Irregular (Pseudo-Pindaric or Cowleyan)
ode (Neither the three part form of the pindaric
ode nor the two or four-line stanza of the Horatian
ode. It is characterized by irregularity of verse and structure and lack of correspondence
between the parts.)
This poetic journey plunges the reader into a depths
of the writer; exploring a myriad of experiences through use of poetic form.
The journey into the soul, delves into her African heritage, her family
history, her indomitable strength as a woman blossoming to maturity, her
sexuality and desire for moral purity – bathed in profundity of her religious
fervor and devotion.
Fanny’s self-investigation leads to self discovery and
then on to self-affirmation. Emboldened by the light of God and the spirit of
love Fanny discovers a love and appreciation for herself, no self-loathing. As
you read, you’ll find yourself drowning in a sea of diverse emotions borne out
of life’s transitions and the emerging self-awareness that ensues. Dive in and
view yourself reflected in the liquid mirror she holds high.
Fanny’s Tamegnon’s use of
poetic devices and prose gives the lover of poetry a taste of the expert use of
poetic form. The emerging world view and philosophy of this poet is one of love
for God and a total trust and faith in the one who knows best, who does best,
who loves best. Fanny permits a ringside seat into the heart and soul of a
young woman wading through the journey of life; the reader ardently watches as
Fanny’s hand is gently guided by her Lord – the lover her soul – the Eternal
One.