On Ohan Hominis's "Scattered Alegories" —Michael Ketigian

 Hominis does a helluva a job creating vibrant paintings in your brain with nothing but static text, helping explore the vast worlds of love and humanity.

Note: To be fully transparent, Ohan is like a brother to me. I see no point in writing an intentionally nebulous review that aims to obfuscate that fact, and I'll actually be leveraging our collaborative friendship to illuminate the power of this collection.
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What is poetry? What is love? What does it mean to write the first, and feel the second?


While we may never fully grasp these concepts fully, I have full confidence that a conscious read of Ohan Hominis' Scattered Allegories will do exactly what the title suggests: shatter the shackles holding you in that metaphorical cave, allowing you to see at least some sliver of formerly distorted light. This poetry is real and raw, yet crafted with careful intention that brings you through the initial experience and subsequent analysis of a human being capable of sensing and communicating an impressively broad spectrum of thought and emotion.

This poetry will make you raise your eyebrows. It'll make you smile, smirk, and laugh. It may make you cry — though perhaps not for reasons you might expect. Some of it will likely turn you on, since certain scenes are reminiscent of depictions on Grecian urns. To quote an unassuming bystander following the performance of one of these poems: "That was sexy."

Above all else, though: this poetry will make you feel.

If the aim of prose is to communicate concrete ideas while also keeping the ethos engaged, poetry takes the opposite approach, assailing the senses to provide the reader or listener with something concrete — but something that only they could provide to themselves. So while Hominis speaks of his own experiences in exquisite detail, they draw parallels to your own experiences, and allow you to walk away with newly discovered pieces of yourself.

As a writer whose aims for poetry are more concrete and didactic, I'm seriously inspired by this collection. While it can be enjoyed by all, it's a reminder to writers in particular that there is no proper way to communicate a message — that the seemingly simple though actually quite difficult task of being true to your own feelings is all you must do to reach other minds. Hominis reminds us that this is in fact the only way to communicate anything concrete.

If you're a fan of poetry, there's no question that you'll enjoy this work. It's refreshingly unique and authentic, and represents a legion of artists who recognize that the purpose of creation is to create what is real to the creator. This is, after all, the only way that it can be real to anyone else.

If you're not into poetry, then simply forget the word poetry and pick up this collection of verbalized memories and sentiments as a means of opening your own perspective to whatever you've been missing. 

There is an immense beauty in every walk of life, and works like these — due to their careful exploration of important ideas, while maintaining accessibility — are pivotal in helping us appreciate it.