Review and Impressions:
Ryan David Miller’s Circle of the Heart and Voices of Comfort Dreams – By Bruce Whealton

I met Ryan for the first time in July of 2009 and remember talking about how writing poetry, being a poet, is not just a job, or something we do, it’s who we are and how we find meaning. I learned that Ryan is both a poet and a spoken word artist. Unfortunately, I have yet to hear or see him perform but I’d like to say that in this book one gets a great insight into the mind of a poet. It is who he is. I myself had been keeping an online journal of my own poems and thoughts and had named it “On Being a Poet and Other Existential Ideas.” So when he gave me this book, I wanted to review it because I felt an affinity and an ability to relate to someone, who like myself, explores one’s identity through one’s writing and explores greater concepts of meaning – of Being a Poet.

I found myself drawn initially to the second chapter, Circle of the Heart. In this chapter, or one might call it a book within the book, Ryan explores his recovery from loss and the mistakes he made. It’s about a woman he loved and lost – she is referred to as Lady. I was amazed at his wisdom, insights and experience, in the reading of this. I could hardly believe this had come from a writer barely 23. I could relate poignantly and profoundly. I know what it is like to experience such passionate longing and mourning for something beautiful, and someone we love and a life that was shared. Here I found I could relate and that is often what we seek when we write and when we read what others have written. We want to know that we are not alone that someone else has felt the same things. Ryan has the courage to open up and share all this with his readers, his most personal and passionate feelings – his dreams and longing. I’m sure there are many others out there who have felt this same way.

When I say that Ryan shares his dreams, I don’t mean that in just a vague and superficial fashion. I mean he shares specific dreams and the material within the dreams. In Circle of the Heart, you’ll read about dream encounters with Lady, his lost love. It was all very powerful emotionally and I found myself highlighting areas where I could return and know that someone else had experienced the same things I do experience and had the courage to put it down in writing and share it with me. Like myself, I think Ryan’s poetry and writing here is reminiscent of the “Confessional” poets. It takes a great deal of courage, and willingness to be vulnerable, to share such personal emotional matters. I’m glad he did, though, for it helped me know that I wasn’t alone with certain experiences of my own.

I want to add that what you find in this book is not just poetry but some very insightful journal entries. As a poet, and online blogger ( the blog is the 21st centuries electronic journal form), I’ve been writing and publishing for many years, almost as long as Ryan’s been alive. I mean it’s interesting to learn from someone much younger. One of the exciting things about reading this book is the ideas it gave me, things I had not really thought of doing. Maybe I wasn’t sure anyone would want to read personal journals about my life. However, in reading Ryan’s journal entries throughout, I found myself equally drawn to these journal entries about his life. I’ve wondered often about what the poet was thinking when he or she wrote a poem… what inspired the poem…. what was it about… This is what Ryan offers. It’s fascinating and it’s what more poets should do. Ryan does it well; he doesn’t over analyze the poems or explain everything – he makes it clear that the reading of each poem will be unique for each reader, unique to when the poem is read. As Ryan says in his ending, and I’m interpreting, poems evolve, like ideas.

So, read this book for insights and to learn, whether you’re young or old, a new poet or a long time poet, or just someone who enjoys the written and spoken word.