Review: Ouroboros by Dennis Jelen
History repeats itself as humanity is consistent in its flaws, and as such, we are stuck in a never ending cycle, a war against ourselves, striving for a utopia that is entirely at odds with our nature. Step outside and watch the Rabbit scurry to hide from the Hawk, the Hawk from the Owl, or the Owl from the Fox! It may stir your heart to see one flee the other, or defend its babies from becoming a meal. Our heart recognizes this because within nature’s simple, vicious beauty we see ourselves. Yet, unlike mankind, there are no distractions from simple truths in the wild; kill or be killed, eat or starve exist within an unchanging plane of black and white— there is no strive for utopia, there is no longing for more than what is and what isn’t.
That is the beginning of Man’s problems. The greatest predator, so far above other beasts that we create our own beasts to slay (as if we haven’t enough!). The Rise of Empires and the Fall of Empires are all within him. So it is imperative that Man should never be left alone, as he always needs a new problem, a new beast to fight, until the fight becomes himself. We become a cycle within a cycle within a cycle, and so it is no wonder that so many fail to escape this trap of our own making.
That is the power within the pages of Dennis Jelen’s Ouroboros— The snake eating itself, as Man eats itself in the complex prison of his own mind. The author bares his soul through poems written in clear tribute to mythical days of old, and there is no better way to showcase a fight, as our Ancestor’s understood something that we today have dismissed: That all mythical tales are born of truth; told in epic scale not to assure others of their greatness, but so that anyone misfortunate enough to have not witnessed the events may understand not just its lessons taught but its significance within those of its time.
Ouroboros starts the reader off by poetically painting a picture of a Man trapped in a cell, of chains and fires for ghosts in its past; of a search for self, and a constant fall from a fleeting joy. Many have experienced these feelings in flashes, moments that may stretch a short time, but for our author, it is his cycle of being. One could say that he has strayed into a separate abyss— a dark realm outside our own that eats away at any man who stands on a foundation that he himself must finish. It waits for him to wander too far from that which he builds so that it may pull him in once more.
Ouroboros is a dark glimpse at a mirror held up at oneself, a journey of the rabbit hole of depression, of seeking answers that do not exist, and fighting for happiness that leaves on a whim. It is a powerful and uncomfortable look at what life can afflict onto us, and what worse we can then afflict onto ourselves. Jelen’s sure command of his prose, his beautiful rhythm and beat of words all while conveying a message of old yet new is why he may be the greatest Poet alive.
Poetry as in any storytelling is capturing us as we are, yet doing so in a manner that moves the reader and amazes with its sharp perceptions of the world and Mankind; a once fuzzy picture painted clearly so that it may both understood yet complex in its meaning.
“Man was born to love and kill
Two objects drove our race since days of old:
Below a serpent’s blood to spill
Above a heaven to behold.”
Soon you’ll see the transition, of a return to nature— an understanding of its simplicity, of its triumphs and trials, its heartbreaking beauty that lies obscured under humanity’s compacity to muddy waters of that which we must see clearest. As Jelen accepts himself and that which is beyond him, he finds solace on his final descent— The eternity of where we rest; a Castle built to both celebrate and protect, and one that is earned every day, as Man must take each day to shun the abyss that waits the mind that wanders too far.
“Solace may be gained
And paradise may be attained
By arming yourself and retaking your ground.
Carving out your realm on earth
The fight, it might be worth.”
As beautifully stated above, life is within the place we keep. Man’s cycle is not just its sufferings, but its conquests, as a whole or as one. Jelen’s own circle of time ends not with the tail of a snake, however, but with a light in the dark that he has chosen to keep lit; and though darkness may reclaim his wake, it shall disperse with every step he takes.
This is not a review of the technical aspects of poetry. I am not an expert of such, having only just discovered my passion for the art recently— And from the Author’s work himself. This is a review to give understanding to the importance and truth that lies within verse beautifully constructed, so that others may seek its sustenance.
Ouroboros impacted me greatly, not only with my own dive into writing poetry, but at the mirror that starts off as a look into Dennis Jelen’s struggles yet soon turned on myself and my own. It is a testament to him, that he so wonderfully captured what a battle of depression is like, yet created not a book of woeful cries and cynicism of life but one of hope, and of assurance that life can start anew for all who heed its call. Life is an acceptance of the past so that you may be aware of the moment, and nowhere better is this displayed then in the journey that graces each page.
I will note that one does not need to have ever been depressed for a long period of time to take away something from Ouroboros. It is a Legend of Old: Darkness wreaking havoc until the Light overcomes, and as all Legends are true, so it is that anyone from anywhere will find words within this book that speaks to them.
I will leave you with a far more simple poem written by myself as an Ode to Dennis Jelen, who may be just scratching the surface of his full brilliance:
“The grasp of sorrow, the heart that stings,
The Boy that wonders what life may bring.
Amidst his strife, truth shall unfurl:
Life's duality, both cruel and pearl.
A Man's odyssey, uniquely drawn,
Seeking God, from dusk till dawn.
Towards the Kingdom, his path doth roam,
Just ahead, Man's True Home.”
Available on Amazon: Ouroboros
