Stanley Park by Sapphira Olson – Poetry Book Review

Today, I’m featuring a poetry collection book review. This is one of my late book reviews from 2021. I had received a free copy of Stanley Park from its author Sapphira Olson in exchange for an honest book review.

I had originally planned to read and review Stanley Park for National Poetry Month 2021 or 2022, but due to a severe case of book blogger’s block, this didn’t happen.

So here’s the synopsis for Stanley Park:

A sorrow has taken root in my heart, and although it hurts every day I know there is a place where we laugh together under an open sky.

To that sanctuary, I am travelling.

This is that story. 

Stanley Park is a collection of 35 poems from PARABLES author Sapphira Olson charting the story of two lovers through history as they are separated and then reunited all within the island of Stanley Park in Vancouver. Olson weaves a beautiful and poignant narrative through a progression of emotional poetry taking the reader on a journey of hope driven by love.

Incorporating poems inspired by Squamish Nation history & legends, the collection explores themes of immortality, love, loss, the nature of consciousness and culture.

Stanley Park itself is a beautiful 405-hectare public park that borders the downtown of Vancouver in British Columbia, Canada and is mostly surrounded by waters of Burrard Inlet and English Bay. The park has a long history and was one of the first areas to be explored in the city.

"What shall it profit you if you turn the whole world into a gasometer and lose your own souls?" Thomas H. Mawson about Stanley Park in his 1912 address to the Canadian Club.

Book Review of Stanley Park

Stanley Park by Sapphira Olson is a poetry collection comprising 35 poems of varying lengths. Sapphira's poems are mostly free verse but they paint a vivid picture and setting.

The collection opens with a few famous quotes. And I liked that 😊

The first poem in Stanley Park is “Arboretum,” a beautiful piece with lots of visual imagery along with some religious and mythological references.

I loved this stanza from “Arboretum”

I also loved the piece titled “Awkward Motion Towards a First Kiss.” I read it twice to let it sink in. The poem starts with long lines and slowly the lines grow shorter as the emotions grow stronger. 

As you read Stanley Park, you’ll notice a few recurring themes such as finding a lost love, connecting and getting back together, and finding the person you love. 

“The Great World of Womanhood” is a long but stunningly beautiful story. I didn’t feel it was poetic, more like prose than poetry but I loved it all the same.

“The Hollow Tree” was another piece that didn’t feel poetic for me. I didn’t understand the story in it but wanted to know more about it. It’s a sad piece.

At the beginning of the book, Olson includes a map of Stanley Park, which Olson clearly has a strong connection with. However, as a reader with no knowledge of the place or background about the author, I felt a bit lost and confused with some pieces, especially those that focused on Stanley Park as a location with memories for Olson.

“The Love of Silent Replies” is a poem that combines reality with mythology. Enjoyable and beautiful.

There were a few pieces in Stanley Park that I didn’t understand. I guess the author had something specific in mind while writing them or that they related to something personal of hers. They weren’t clear to me.

“The Women of Sagalie Tyee” is a beautiful story within a poem that gives this feeling of transcending. Meanwhile, “The Secret of Eternal Flight” is one of those non-poetic pieces, in my opinion. This was made even more so by the use of long and big words like ‘morphological.’

“If Ever a Woman Lost a Throne” is one of the longer but most beautiful pieces in Stanley Park. It celebrates womanhood and offers a stand against the ‘white man’ theme. 

I absolutely loved “When the Whole World Was in Bloom,” which opens with:

“We fashioned ourselves from a treasure house of stories,

When the whole world was in bloom.

A moment of ascension: just the two of us,

A fertile soil over sandstone and shale.”

 

Other highly recommended poems in Stanley Park:

• “We Fall in Love with Stanley Park”
• “The Journey”
• “The Roses Bloom in June”
• “The Storm”
• “A Supernatural Footnote”
• “A Land of Splendid Beauty”

 

Overall, I thought Stanley Park by Sapphira Olson was a beautiful and visual poetry collection. Though I found some of the pieces to be confusing, I enjoyed many others (mentioned above). 

Overall rating of Stanley Park by Sapphira Olson: 3 stars

Note: I received a free copy of Stanley Park from its author Sapphira Olson in exchange for an honest review. This did not in any way impact my review.

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