Park Parallel is a poetry collection inspired by the poet's life experiences, relating to the passing of time and the comings and goings of life.

I wanted to love this collection. I love the idea of fragments of moments that capture the nuances of our daily lives, especially in the context of the poet who mentions her conversations with her mother in the beginning. Unfortunately, the poems did not have the desired effect on me and I did not connect with the poems as much as I would have liked.

I did not feel the emotions that the poet may have been trying to evoke through her personal life. There is no problem touching on everyday objects such as pillows and butter, and in fact these objects can help readers envision the imagery. However, I have a hard time trying to figure out what the poems are supposed to convey to the reader in terms of meaning and emotion. In terms of form and structure the poems have a more conversational tone and incline to being free verse, so I will not judge the poems based on structure or form, only on the meaning and emotions. The poems may be significant to the writer but they need to be significant to the reader too to be more enjoyable. Sometimes we need to write for ourselves, to lay out what we feel and to express ourselves, but in the case of publishing a collection for everyone to read, there needs to be a higher level of emotional connection for me.

I will end this review on an encouraging note. Some of the poems include more evocative lines, such as "we all decompose" and "fill up your sensory suitcases" and my favorite poem is "an uneven mourning" because I feel the connection between the title and the contents of the poem. I can imagine a more solid story through the imagery surrounding the poem. The poem titles are artistically chosen to represent the overall setting, such as Mood Pools and Raised By Malls. I can see that the poems try to break down the complexity of life into the simpler things in this collection, even though they end up being a little too simple to etch into memory.

I do not think one collection is the complete representation of the skills and abilities of the poet, and perhaps another reviewer would love these poems. I recommend this poetry collection to those looking for a brief and bittersweet ride through poetry.