Shards of Shattered Sentiments: An Exploration of Poetic Form Through the Lens of Horror

Shards Chapbooks, Book 1

By: John Baltisberger

Narrated by: John Baltisberger

Length: 16 mins

Publisher's summary

Poetry in one form or another has been around almost as long as language. We have used it to communicate our joys and heartbreaks, our victories and our losses. But fear has also been a constant companion, and our ghost stories and monsters stretch their claws back into history as far as the eyes can see. It's with this in mind that we begin our journey through various poetic forms, from traditional Japanese Haiku to more modernist takes such as The Bop. Exploring the rules that create these literary creations all while bending their use to telling scary stories.

Heavily inspired by the American pulp horror writers of the 1930s, this chapbook explores themes of madness and forgotten monsters. Haunted houses that demand sacrifice and sunken cities waiting to be rediscovered. Twenty-five poems, each using different forms dive into the chilling and often deranged world of horror.

Praise for Shards of Shattered Sentiments

"It feels like walking in a dreamy and mysterious dark tunnel between the author's articulation" (Naturre G. Tengger Cavalry)

"All of the poems in Shards of Shattered Sentiments are dark, twisted, and full of imagery that will make you think, make you see, and perhaps leave you more than a little unnerved." (Roxanne Rhoads)

©2018 John Baltisberger (P)2018 John Baltisberger

A Fine Collection of Poems

Rich in vocabulary, energetic in rhythm, these poems employ rhyme and metre with deliberate purpose, never meandering far from the subject. Enjoyable cosmic horror.

A Captivating, Poetic Descent Into Horror

This is the second collection of assorted poetry from John Baltisberger I've had the pleasure of experiencing. This time, it was in audiobook format rather than chapbook, as In Service of Slaughter had been.
There's a good variety for anyone who enjoys horror and poetry in combination, though it is a bit on the short side, being adapted from a chapbook.
Baltisberger performs his own narration, which makes the experience more personal and intimate than I suspect it would have been from a third-party narrator.
"Nameless Leviathan" stands out for the simple fact that he layers his voice multiple times to create an effect similar to the verse/response effect one might experience in a church or temple. It creates a more chant-like quality rather than feeling like a straightforward piece of poetry, and I enjoyed that a great deal.
The limerick included is entertaining, for being so gruesome...but limericks, by design, are always amusing in a strange way...something to do with the rhythm and sing-song quality of the style.