The Facebook Status I Wish I Could Post by Keitaris Goldston
What's It About?
This is the work of a poet up close and personal, hiding nothing, touching upon everything from love, emotions, family, relationships, lies, betrayal, comfort, confusion, beauty, spirit, self-reflection and more.It’s easy to get lulled into thinking that Keitaris Goldston’s beautiful and intense poetry collection, The Facebook Status I Wish I Could Post, literally is a stream of random thoughts not yet ready for social media prime time.
The deception continues as one reads the opening lines of “The Recipe:”
1 tsp of ignored phone calls
5 cups of backstabbing
6 quarts of truth
20 pints of isolation
4 shades of depression
Whatever inspired Goldston’s title, it was a stroke of marketing genius – and probably meant to be anything but. That’s because The Facebook Status I Wish I Could Post is a poignant, uninhibited outpouring of feelings and observations, an often difficult but liberating journey through the author’s mind captured in poems and vignettes of different lengths and depths.
Deeply Personal Poetry
This is the work of a poet up close and personal, hiding nothing. “I wanted to be able to write freely,” Goldston says, touching upon everything from love, emotions, family, relationships, lies, betrayal, comfort, confusion, beauty, spirit, self-reflection and more.
He writes of a human heart with four chambers: “Passion, Desire, Compassion and the Will of having sacrificed time longing for your presence.”
In a moving outcry to God:
“God, do you cry when your children sin? Is that why it rains? When it thunders and lightning rips through the sky, is it because you’re angry with your children?
“God, why is your voice so quiet when we pray?”
Readers will easily jump from poem to poem, savoring the words and marvelous use of language to truly feel the author’s intensity and pain. Many of the poems seem to speak to a particular person, for which readers can only surmise that person’s relationship or role.
From the poem “Crumble”:
“Take me hand in hand,
Reach inside me and set my soul ablaze,
So that when I’m feeling empty and down, at least I
Know you’ll be at my side, at least you’ll be the one who prays,
At least I know you’ll be the one who stays.”
More on love:
“After a long day at the office, I just want to open my mind to you and divulge every thought, worry, complaint, because you understand me..you love me…you kiss me on my forehead and love me by the waist and take me for a never-ending ride through your thoughts.”
Therapeutic Writing & Sage Advice
Given the title of this collection, I couldn’t help myself – I had to visit the author’s Facebook page, or at least see if he had one. He surely does, and I was so intrigued by one particular post, I had to share it:
Seven Rules of Life
- Let it go (Never ruin a good day by thinking about a bad yesterday.)
- Ignore them (Don’t listen to other people. Live a life that’s empowering to you.)
- Give it time (Time heals everything.)
- Don’t compare (The only person you should try to beat is the person you were yesterday.)
- Stay calm (It’s ok not to have everything figured out, know that in time you’ll get there.)
- It’s on you (Only you are in charge of your happiness.)
- Smile (Life is short, enjoy it while you have it.)
It’s interesting that on his Facebook page, Goldston appears to offer sage advice to others, while in this collection he seems to write therapeutically, freely expressing his thoughts and emotions to somehow work through his own life crises.
Yet there is plenty to take from this soulful mind and glorious writing. The expressiveness is real and refreshing, and many readers will relate to it.
And even if all matters are not sufficiently resolved at the finish, Goldston gives us reason for hope:
“I’m still falling. Waiting for the next one to catch me, and this time, I’ll never make the same mistake.”
About Keitaris Goldston:
Keitaris Goldston, 28, born in New York and raised in South Carolina, now resides in Mesa, AZ. Keitaris has a Bachelor of Science degree in Biochemistry and a Master of Science degree in Biology. He attended Claflin University and Alabama A&M University. He enjoys singing, listening to music, watching House of the Dragon, and listening to his favorite podcasts when he’s not writing.
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