Review of the book “Spring Autumn”, by Paqui Bernal Galego.
By María del Rivero Esteban.
Upon returning from Easter, I received at home my copy of “Spring the Autumn”, the book of poems by Paqui Bernal. I am a Philologist and I have always been interested in poetry -both reading it and writing it-, so I was very curious about this book and read it in a couple of days. At the outset, I have to say that she has pleasantly surprised me.
I have already located and congratulated the author, also for this beautiful edition and with those cool photos that, by the way, give off a delicious smell (I can never stop myself from smelling the new books).
The truth is that reading the poems I have felt very identified with everything that Paqui Bernal writes, especially in the first part of the collection of poems, the one that the writer dedicates to the passage of time.
I think that even oneself is amazed to see the transience of life, and how the years leave a dent in our physical appearance, in such a way that sometimes we don’t even recognize ourselves when we look in the mirror. Then, we reflect and realize that, despite the physical changes, our essence continues to house the girl, the adolescent and the young woman that we once were. Experience makes us more cautious and disillusioned, but from time to time we recover the halo of innocence and illusion of the past, which never stopped being there, within us. We are like Russian matryoshkas placed in our own container that varies in shape and size, but will always keep our hidden soul in its most minuscule form.
On another note, I also really liked the nostalgic tone of some of Paqui Bernal’s poems, for example those in which she talks about the loss of our loved ones – like in the poems where the author mentions her father and mother. (already deceased) -.
And I loved the poems he dedicated to his granddaughter, full of tenderness and the explicit and unapologetic affection that perhaps a generation like ours lacked, for which family relationships were more repressed. Things from the culture and society of the moment.
In conclusion, and to avoid spoilers, I can only add that “Spring Autumn” is a book of poems that is worth reading because, surely, you will enjoy it.
Source: https://algunoslibrosbuenos.com/primavera-el-otono-opinion
