The Dim Future by Phina Rheads
Publisher: Self-Published
Genre: Non-Fiction, Contemporary
Rating: 3 Stars
Reviewed by Astilbe“The Dim Future” is a rhythmic, musical poetry collection using profound language to express and unpack themes and concepts such as love in all its different iterations, philosophy, loss, admitting one’s mistakes, complex family environment, mental health, generational trauma, existentialism, temporality, growth, resilience, etc. The use of free verse verbalises and highlights the chanting quality and aesthetics of the poems, as well as the insight that the author wants to convey to the reader. In turn, allows the reader to receive this wisdom and elaborate it for themselves. Be sure that no matter who you are, at least one poem out of the thirty rhyming poems was written just for you.
Nobody’s life is perfect.
One never really knows what other people’s quiet struggles might be. This collection introduced readers to characters who are dealing with everything from racism to grief to a teacher who doesn’t realize how much pressure they’re placing on their students and more. Behind a happy smile might be someone who desperately needs some understanding and a break from the things in their life that feel impossible to fix. The first step to helping is to understand the emotions not everyone feels comfortable expressing, and this was an interesting take on the topic.
I found myself wishing for more details to be included in these poems. It was tricky to visualize what was happening in them because there weren’t many words in them that described any of the five senses or what the characters in them were like as people other than the difficult circumstances they were going through. Paying more attention to such things would have made it easier for me to maintain a high level of interest in every piece.
With that being said, there was some interesting imagery in “Black Teenage Girl.” It talked about the fragility and beauty of the main character who needed to be protected from the outside world, comparing her to an egg in a nest at the top of the tree. That’s the sort of description that makes me perk up as a reader and want to learn more about the metaphor and how it should be understood.
The Dim Future believed in compassion which is something our world needs more of!