Back cover synopsis: In Someone's Shadow is, quite simply, one of the most direct, touching and beautiful collection of love poems by an American poet. In diary form it chronicles aloneness, the coming of love, the duration of an affair and the leave-taking. Using the seasons of the year as a platform to speak eloquently of man's need, the words in this book underscore the reason why Rod McKuen has become not only the most influential and best-selling poet of our lifetime, but quite possibly the best-selling poet of all time.
As well as the "diary," In Someone's Shadow contains a series of verses entitled Did You Say the War Is Over?, some of the material from A Man Alone (written for Frank Sinatra) and a collection of lyrics from the writer/composer's recent songs.
My rating: 3 stars.
Content warnings: PG-13. Some sexual poems.
Thoughts: Well... it's poetry.
I had never heard of Rod McKuen before stumbling into this book, which either points to my lack of culture or how unlasting the work actually was. Or both, but probably the former.
I decided to read it entirely because I liked the sound of the title.
Which became funny, because the "In Someone's Shadow" portions I liked less than the "Did You Say the War Is Over?" bits.
I'm not really a poetry person, so it's hard for me to get into it/understand it sometimes. That being said, there were some poems I did really like in this one, and I think I'll hang onto the book for a bit for those. The rest weren't super impressive, but I can't tell if that's me, or the poems themselves. Probably a mix of both.
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