Midwest Book Review

Diptych/Díptico: A beautiful poetic synthesis

By Diane Donovan
Senior Reviewer
Midwest Book Review

Diptych/Díptico: Bilingual Poems/ Poemas Bilingües
Gilbert Luis R. Centina III
CentiRamoPUBLISHING
978-1544951737 $12.99
Website: www.gilbertluisrcentinaiii.com
Ordering Link: http://amzn.to/2rsR50h
Useful URL: http://bit.ly/2tKcyju

Gilbert Luis R. Centina III's bilingual poetry collection includes an excellent Spanish translation throughout which makes his poems about a person's struggle with daily life a deeply philosophical and psychological inspection that can be readily accessed and appreciated by English and Spanish speakers alike.

The verses are meant to reflect both universal truths and religious reflections in the course of examining life, offering nuggets of succinct, thought-provoking inspections that poetry readers will find both spiritually rich and deeply evocative.

Some poems narrow their focus to the daily rigors of little encounters in life: “Morning is a glass of liquid truths/ − viscous, circumstantial, unrehearsed −/When dream rolls back like condensed milk/And the weather settles down like seminiferous maze./So this is also sainthood..." while others offer broader inspection as the "everyman" narrator makes his way through a maze of life encounters: "I have to walk all seasons alone,/Knowing that friends can be fickle like/Cigarette butts; knowing that this sojourn/Is a constant wrestling with time./I have seen so many pawns aspiring to be queens,/I have known so many kinships that end in death./I court loneliness..."

Perhaps the singularly most powerful feature of these reflections lies in their ability to draw connections between personal experience and higher-level thinking. Poets should be warned that there are no light stanzas, here: each poem represents a world within itself, existing as both a nugget of individual detail and as a contribution to a bigger spiritual picture which embraces and represents the evolution of Diptych/Díptico.

Spicing the Spanish translation on each facing page is original black and white artwork by Basque multimedia artist Vicente Jáuregui Presa and by the poet's sister, Louella Centina Garnado.

These supporting images enhance and broaden Gilbert Luis R. Centina III's words, and the end result is a beautiful synthesis of poetry, philosophy, spirituality and psychological inspection that is well illustrated especially recommended for poetry readers who seek a journey from individual inspection to universal spiritual truth: "To love God I must suspend our covenant/While I seek him among those falsely accused./Weasels bend the truth and misuse/Their cushy seat of power, relishing/The perks of evanescent authority./They keep justice at bay, move the light away/And conceal cold facts under the apron of spineless casuistry."

The verses are meant to reflect both universal truths and religious reflections in the course of examining life, offering nuggets of succinct, thought-provoking inspections that poetry readers will find both spiritually rich and deeply evocative. "