A Star for Noon : An Homage to Women in Images, Poetry and Music
by Gordon Parks

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Book Reviews of A Star for Noon : An Homage to Women in Images, Poetry and Music

Book Review: Ode to Joy!
Summary: 5 Stars

Before going further, let me mention that the book contains many beautiful nude images of women that would earn its contents an R rating (or even a bit more) if the book were a motion picture. The images will remind you of Edward Weston's work, as the ambiguous line between landscape and the female form are portrayed.

The book is divided into the themes of awakening, longing, remembering, waiting, returning, and homecoming. Each section has its own previously unpublished poetry, color, and thematic photographs. The images alternate among female nudes, landscapes, nudes superimposed on landscapes (like the cover image), flowers, and still lifes. The photographs' compositions, reproduction quality, and connection to the themes and each other are stunning. Although the work is unformly of high quality, I liked the flower photographs best. They will remind you of Robert Mapplethorpe and Georgia O'Keeffe.

Of the many elements in this work, I actually enjoyed the poetry the best. You should play the music as you read the book to deepen your emotional connection and experience.

Here are a few samples of Mr. Parks's understanding of how much meaning women bring to our lives.

"I lie here abandoned,

longing for you to give

the thinnest hope to my heart.

Speak to me." -- Dayspring

"I lie haunted in the ashes

of shapeless memories." -- Memories to Forget

"How could you let him caress hands

I held just one love ago?" -- I'm Not Close

"You and longing are as one." -- I Breath Deeply and Want

"Nothing

can

be

more

indiscreet, or arduous,

than love." -- I Know

"Yet I still know

what I am in search of --

one unending love that claims

the need to be remembered." -- Friendly Advice

"If you would have a star for noon,

it shall be yours." -- A Child Arriving

You can feel the vibrancy of the work from these words, I'm sure. What's amazing to me is that Mr. Parks is now 88. Yet his vision here is that of a quite young man. Remarkable!

After you have enjoyed this outstanding milieu Mr. Parks has created for us, I suggest that you think about what women have inspired you to accomplish that would not otherwise have happened.

To me, above all women are muses making the heavens' silent potential resound with meaning!