Troubled Dreams

James Deahl is co-publisher of Mekler & Deahl Publications and the
author of Under the Watchful Eye.

Troubled Dreams is a mixture of confessional poems (often dealing with
the poet’s relationship with his father) and evocations of tragic
historical events (the Holocaust, the Franklin Expedition, the doomed
Challenger).

The poems in a section called “a bastard hand” deal with the
poet’s failure to follow in his father’s footsteps and become a
carpenter. The poem “My Father’s Body” is a very fine treatment of
aging. Also of note are poems on married love. “Anniversary” and
“Song” are magical pieces. In his role of confessional poet,
Serafino tends to avoid the superficial and trite. Unfortunately, such
is not the case with his historical poems. Those commemorating John
Torrington and Christa McAuliffe do not go beyond the surface drama of
the described events, while the Holocaust poems do not add to our
understanding of that great evil.

Almost all of the better pieces are to be found among the more formally
structured poems. The language tends to be sloppy and inexact without
the discipline of a set structure. Still, as a debut collection,
Troubled Dreams is better than most.