Customer Reviews:

• "From Stones Keep Their Silence... to Starfish and Stars...and yet onto Cloudburst and other selected poems, Emily Romano's new chapbook, The Music of Words, entices us into nature in such a way that we experience the essence of each form in the most personal sense. As if this weren’t enough delight to find in one chapbook, also awaiting the reader are philosophical poems (Men, A Paradox, The Puzzle, and others) which contemplate man’s existence in a unique perspective of his circumstances and experiences. The spirit of man’s celebration of life (Cavern Song among others) and finally the culmination of man’s spirit in harmonious coexistence with nature (Dame Winter’s Ghost, Portraiture: Rockaway River, The Silver Cord) remain with me as I go through my day’s mundane events; recalling Romano’s words, my life is enriched with meaning, reminding me of the unity and spiritual growth in every action, every word spoken, and at every turn in my daily life. Who has not had tears "frozen on the lake" (Dame Winter’s Ghost)..... our sorrows to appear and leave their mark when others were unaware; and how far have we really grown in our lifetimes? - "I still stumble over my own shadow" (Lamentation). The Music of Words shares with us the lyrical rhythm of life, translated into poetic words that read like a dear friend." - Jan Turner

• "Emily Romano’s chapbook, The Music of Words, resounds with the cadences of well-crafted, finely metered poems. It is a joy to read these aloud. Most of the poems are of a serious nature, concerning the human state and human understanding. But there is also a bit of clever humor here and there that enhances this enjoyable volume." - Margaret Smith

• "After coming home from a long, exhausting day of work, (wanting nothing more than an immediate nap!), as I dropped my keys on the kitchen table, my eyes fell on my as-yet-unopened copy of Emily Romano's "The Music Of Words". Tired as I was, I was so intrigued by the unusual title, that I decided to open the book and read a poem or two before my nap. Well, I became so absorbed in these fascinating poems, that I read the entire chapbook. The thought-provoking, contemplative poems got my own create juices flowing - no need for that nap after all! Thank you, Ms. Romano for sharing your poetic "voice" and beautiful spirit with your readers in this uplifting collection of poems that I will "listen" to again and again..." - Marti Fox

• "Having read nearly every chapbook written by Emily Romano and sold here at Shadow Poetry, I decided to review THE MUSIC OF WORDS selected poems. Ms. Romano is probably best known for her Haiku and essays on them and other similar forms, as well as for her many short stories such as those that have appeared in SP Quill. However, her work which I have enjoyed the most is the poetry that graces the pages of the MUSIC OF WORDS.

First, I love the title of this chapbook, with its beautiful cover artwork depicting musical notes and instruments, because I greatly admire poets who know how to utilize the power and magic of language! As I started reading THE MUSIC OF WORDS, I was not disappointed by the poems Ms. Roman had selected to depict not only the musicality of words, but also their profundity. Her book contains too many praiseworthy poems to mention, so I will simply touch on a few of her many poems that touch a poet’s soul.

From “Stones Keep Their Silence” we can glean the wisdom in remaining silent, as have stones throughout the ages of time. Notice the eloquence of this stanza comparing stones to coal:

          Stones, you keep secrets which coal
          Cannot keep, crackling away in her sleep.
          She burns in a self-begun fire.
          Unlike you, she ignites like a feather;
          You keep your soul, cool altogether,
          As she spews forth consuming, long-contained ire.

What wonderful imagery and thoughts for a person to ponder!

Ms. Roman brings her audience a way of viewing life through metaphor of inanimate and ordinary things again and again with poems like “Wheels”(which are always “Becoming!), “Without a Wall” (a metaphor for the invisible prison that life can make for refugees), or “No Alphabet” (in which she very interestingly defines snow as something with perhaps something to say):

          Snow speaks with the footprints of deer and of birds.
          And while I’m divining what snow has to say,
          With deft sort of timing, it’s dwindled away.

From philosophizing about humankind with the book’s beginning poems “Man’s Search For Man,” “Recognition” and others, to portraying a variety of animate or inanimate things with poems such as “Portraiture: Rockaway River,” “Flamingoes,” “Starfish and Stars” or the little spider poem called “The Silver Cord” and to assessing her own long and contented life with the ending poem fittingly called “Conclusion,” Emily Romano is in top form. I am someone who seeks poetry that is eclectic, descriptive, intelligent and lucid, and the poetry here in this book fits the bill for me. Bravo for THE MUSIC OF WORDS!" - Review by Andrea Dietrich, author of Challenging the Muse, Dreaming the Unicorn, The Seasonal-Go-Round, and co-author of Friendship Garden.