Review: Kaleidoscope of Colors II by Robert A. Cozzi

Poet and author Robert A. Cozzi has forged another powerful and personal collection of poetry in Kaleidoscope of Colors II.

Delving through his own painful and passionate life, and laying out what he has learned and felt over the course of his life, this second dynamic installment certainly earns its name. Showing impressive poetic flexibility, Cozzi moves through themes and metric styles with ease, whether it’s a pair of hard-hitting haikus or a lyrical, exploratory wander through a memory.

There are gorgeous homages to the past, such as the poem titled “Rebecca,” a portrait of a portrait, with abstract language and cutting, creative lines of pleading. “The End of Us” is a gut-punch for anyone who has ever been blind-sided by a breakup: “I remember hearing you say that you were sorry / That you no longer loved me / And that was when I stopped listening.” There is a bluntness in many of these poems, with emotions tugged on via raw and brutal recollections, rather than ethereal imagery.

There are also scattered bits of prose, such as “Ty’s Journal Entry,” a painfully intimate dive into the mental struggle of someone victimized by bullying, or “Letters,” a snapshot of insecurity and affection. These pieces feel more organic than previous collections, and nearly every poem and page has a deep sense of intimacy that runs the gamut of emotions. Generally, the themes that Cozzi explores are dark – grief, regret, heartbreak, mortality, and loneliness. The direct nature of the writing makes it feel as though the poet is right there in the room with readers, or sitting across the bar, sharing his lament.

That said, some of the poems are more superficial than others, so some could be trimmed to make the collection even stronger, as certain poems have redundant or overly familiar imagery and a lack of a clear message or arc. Pieces like “Deeper Than Bone” or “Dancing Infernos” are bite-sized poems, but feel unpolished, without a natural flow or impact. There is no right or wrong length to a poem, but there should be intentionality in the form and length a poet chooses, and that thoughtfulness occasionally feels lacking here. However, these pieces also serve as refreshing breaths between more intense, emotionally demanding pieces.

As was the case in the first installment of this collection, the narrative voice in some poems nearly comes off as prose, save the line breaks; certain lines could be improved or made more impactful with some rearranging and tightening. Excess prepositions, filler words, slang, and punctuation interrupts the flow of ideas, without reaching the true stream-of-consciousness style. Some pieces also end abruptly, which can be an effective poetic tool to keep readers literally hanging on the edge of the last line, but the brevity can sometimes be jarring, such as with the close of “Intimate Mixture.”

While there are occasional issues in the execution of this body of work, Cozzi deftly conveys a sense of yearning and vulnerability, and this new collection will resonate fiercely with empathic readers.