‘Bonne Année’ is a French phrase meaning “Happy New Year.” Yasmin S. Brown’s “Bonne Année Of Success, Life, and Poetry” is a lyrical voyage across the emotional landscapes of the human soul. Divided into seven evocative parts, each rich with metaphor, imagery, and profound thematic resonance, the book slogans for resilience, hope, faith, and celebration of positivity:
“Small steps,
Big dreams,
Benchmarks to accomplish.”
The first part, “Gravitational Pull of Nature”, anchors the reader in the elemental world, where nature is not merely a backdrop but an active force that pulls, presses, and propels. Poems like “Night Moon”, “Balcony View”, “Clouds”, “Nature’s Waltz”, and “Gravitational Pull of Nature” use celestial and terrestrial imagery to illustrate how nature mimics or influences human emotions.
The second part, “Intersection of Life,” reflects on the crossroads moments that define human existence. Poems in this section, such as “Table”, ” Mind”, “Roll-O-Coaster”, “Road”, etc. explore how life’s experiences intertwine in little objects around us. There’s a subtle tension between the randomness of events and the spiritual architecture behind them. When you read the poem “Table”, you will be bewildered by the charm of its reciprocal voice.
The third part, “You Are Free as a Jailbird”, is perhaps the most paradoxical and powerful part of the collection. The title itself evokes an ironic juxtaposition, freedom and entrapment. The poems here confront emotional, societal, and personal cages. “Life Cycle”, “Life’s Flood”, and “Reflection” delve into the psyche of a soul yearning for liberation. Yasmin’s poetic conceits here highlight how captivity can be internal as much as external.
In this part, “Love”, love is explored in its vast emotional spectrum, from longing to loss, from the warmth of connection to the shadows it leaves behind. Poems like “Eclipsed Love, ” Structure of Love”, “Unspoken Love”, “I am in Love” are saturated with multifunctional definitions of love:
” I’m in love with a man,
A man with a master plan,
A plan to Hold My Hand,
Into the land full of quicksand,”
Love is not idealised here; it is elemental and raw.
“Ladies Choice” celebrates womanhood through the different identities a woman bears in this society and beyond it. “I am an influential woman” resonates the power of woman. R.O.A.R. is a wonderfully structured poem. In “Inspirational Vision”, the poet moves from introspection to illumination through such poems as “Hope”, “Rain”, “Fog”, “Wind”, “Fire”, and ” Sandstorm”. Every natural phenomenon is represented through human experience. “The Success of a New Year”, the final part, closes the book with hope, a tempered optimism- born from struggle, steeped in reflection. Poems like “Resolution” and “Celebration” suggest that success is a quiet, persistent blooming. In this part, Yasmin has celebrated the New Year with such radiant expressions and imagery that it’s unmatched by any other expression.
Yasmin S. Brown’s “Bonne Année” is a striking meditation on life’s entanglements with nature, emotion, and personal evolution. In Mary Oliver’s poems, Nature is all glory, while for Yasmin, Nature has a vital role in shaping human glory. Darkness is a recurring symbol throughout the book. The poet often uses darkness not as an absence of light but as a necessary obscurity where growth and insight occur, revealing life’s synchronicity. The use of far-fetched conceits reminds me of Metaphysical poets like John Donne. In her distinguished pen, particles of chalk fly into outer space, an atom builds an unbreakable legacy, a bird chirps like a leaking faucet, and clouds like fluppy white pillows shape perfect imagery for the readers. “Bonne Année” is a perfect read for poetry lovers drawn to themes of nature, emotional resilience, symbolic darkness, and personal transformation.
