Lone Star Book Blog Tour: The Mad Ramblings of a Joker by Brandon Dillon (Review and Giveaway)

 

 

 

 

 

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“I am a survivor.
Since my start, just a survivor.”

In The Mad Ramblings of a Joker, the raw beauty of Brandon Dillon’s poetry is staggering. With PTSD as the basis for many of the poems, the natural expectation is dark, but the reality is even darker because the poems are filled with honest feelings and yet are encouraging as well. Encouraging? Yes, encouraging because these poems show the importance of working through the darkness using artistic measures and then sharing the result with the world. That takes courage on the author’s part and compassion and sympathy/empathy on the reader’s part. Poetry is a unique collaboration between the author and the reader, and Brandon Dillon gives the reader plenty to ponder.

Some of the poems border on prose, but the overall structure of this entire collection is pure poetry, filled with grit, truth, vulnerability, sadness, and hope. The author has clearly been enduring insecurities and anger and heartache for many years and often dons the persona of a clown or a joker to keep people at a distance while still yearning for love, acceptance, and authentic relationships.

As a poet who not only writes poems but reads them aloud to an audience, Brandon is brave because through his work, he gifts the reader with a glimpse into his heart and soul. A heart that has been broken and patched and broken again and again. Brandon’s poetry will no doubt leave a mark because it invites us to perform our own deep dive into emotions that will cut and sting if we don’t keep them pushed down, festering until they are finally given air. Most of Brandon’s poems are quick but may take a little while to absorb because of the fierce emotional impact. As a word of warning, many thoughts and topics, such as rage and suicide, might be difficult to read about because of the harsh expression of jagged pain hidden in plain sight. But that is real. The pain is real. As you sojourn through these insightful poems, prepare to be quite moved. How can you not be moved when this baring of the soul to complete strangers may very well bring enlightenment and perhaps even a bit of healing for us all?

“You ask me why I am angry? And I ask why are you not?”

Enter the giveaway below on or before April 26, 2021, for a chance to win some fabulous prizes.

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I received a free copy of this book from Lone Star Book Blog Tours in exchange for my honest review.

 

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Brandon Dillon is an award-winning poet who writes from the soul about his life as a child born into poverty, his travels around the world as a U.S. Marine, love won and love lost, and the trauma that life brings. If you ask him his biggest accomplishments thus far, he will tell you they are the laughter and tears of the audience as he reads his words on the stage for them. He is amazed when people feel his emotion and in turn show him their emotion.

 

He has twice performed by invitation, reading his poetry at the FASOLT Fine Arts Expo, and has participated twice in “Color: Story,” a collaboration between poets and visual artists, winning first place in 2019. When he is not working or taking care of his two sons, Brandon frequents open mic readings for poetry and all genres of writing with the group Writespace and performs at open mic and slam poetry events with the group Write About Now, at times reading something he just wrote that day.

 

He is never far from his notebook, fitting his writing in between shifts at work, kids and homework, and sleeping. Brandon lives in Houston, Texas.

 

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