Wow. From the first page, I can sense the emotion, the dreams, the surroundings, and the soul of a teenager who is wise beyond his years. Time Capsule is the first book of poetry and prose for this publishing company. The imagery and depth that goes into the thoughts are colorful, insightful, and intense. Ideas with Ink has published a wonderful book that other teenagers and adults will enjoy reading. The author uses a lot of analogies such as comparing his life to a party on a boat, but now he can’t tell north from south, or right from wrong, or friends from foe. There are several comparisons to day and night, freedom and fight.

Time Capsule is full of original poetry and snippets from the author’s last three years. I think Stroke is one of my favorites—a colorful ecstasy and how colors can have different effects. The Child’s Decalogue also has some wonderful lines such as: “As a child I had money, courage but no freedom, now I have no money, some courage but an endless sea of freedom.” Very profound. He even includes some poems that have been translated into Spanish or French. The book is organized by topic including existence, odes, dreams, questions, answers, love, sonnets, somewhat historic, and flash fiction. Readers will be mesmerized by the flash fiction story The Call of the Sea; this short story is very well written. The flash fiction story A Statue Through Time shows us another side to the author, as the story is relatable and heartfelt. The Firework and the Candle both have a short life, but are both used to commemorate an event; however, one is happy and one is not. Time Capsule is an interesting collection of poetry and short stories that teens and adults will find insightful.

Time Capsule by Ideas With Ink is an abundant collection of contemporary poems which are separated into nine parts/themes; Existence, Odes, Dreams, Questions, Answers, Love, Sonnets, Somewhat Historic and Flash Fiction. A significant statement about the teenage author is that this collection was written over the course of the last three years and it has become the time capsule of his teenage-hood, hence the apt title of this collection, showing that time and youth are some of the dominant factors in the author’s work.

The prose doesn’t adhere strictly to the norms of poetry writing. That said, the writing style is expressive and vivid. Post-Mortem is one of the poems in Time Capsule that clearly shows this aspect and is one of my favorites: "Among your laky eyes that // Grasp shadowy minnows // Moored to the sky of my brow // Solitude’s pincers // As if drunken bells // Of emancipated doves // A raven exasperating // A bee among the moon’s stamens // Whitening your diurnal hills of eulogies."

The use of similes and key metaphors is quite interesting: "As candid as the lighthouse’s dream, The night roars like a panther, Flutters like a little butterfly in the endless sands of sin." On the whole, Time Capsule is a solid literary piece that cleverly uses an array of analogy, symbols and ambiguity, giving it an impressive depth. The quality of each of the poems varies, but author Ideas With Ink definitely has a skill which can be further developed in this genre.

Time Capsule is a collection of captivating poems and prose by a Canadian teen who identifies himself as Ideas with Ink. The term “poetry” is defined as a literary work in which special intensity is given to the expression of feelings and ideas by the use of distinctive style and rhythm. It usually conveys an intensity of emotion, whereas “prose” is merely defined as written language without structure. Both are forms of expression and both are highly subjective. It’s for this reason that poetry and prose are so difficult to critique. This type of work is different from other genres such as a fictional whodunit, where a crime has been committed and one or more protagonists must solve the crime in a relatively logical and compelling manner. Poetry, on the other hand, must ‘speak’ to the reader in that it should convey a wealth of emotion and feelings; whereby both can leap off a page or they can be much more subtle in their impact.

At first glance, some of Ideas with Ink’s offerings tend to come across as nothing more than a few haphazard words thrown together that take up minuscule amounts of space on an otherwise ordinary page. Case in point: Goodbye. It consists of three lines, thirteen words – sparse prose at best. However, it’s when you actually stop and consider the meaning of the words that you begin to understand the wealth of meaning behind those few well-chosen words. Delve further into Ideas with Ink’s offerings and you’ll find The Stars. This poem provides readers with a glimpse into the poet’s mind. We have a better understanding as to how he sees our world, understands it, and then processes it: “The Stars are Measuring spoons For infinity, Stopwatches To eternity, Highways To voices, Tolls For silence, Prisons For dreams, Halfway-houses To souls.”

Sparsely presented or plentiful, Ideas with Ink’s words in Time Capsule convey a wealth of emotion, as befitting the teenager who wrote them, inevitably sharing with us his hopes, dreams, pain and tribulations, all which create havoc in his soul or happiness in his heart. All convey a depth of feeling, from Mourning – which is poignant and haunting – to Dreams Soaked in Purple Rain – which has romantic resonance. Ideas with Ink has a special connection to his environment, which is evident in Winter in My Heart, and despite his youth (or perhaps because of it), he is attuned to the foibles of human nature, as can be seen in Shadows and Reflections. For those readers who like their poetry with structure told in iambic pentameter, Time Capsule isn’t for you. However, for those readers wanting to be moved, Time Capsule has plenty to offer.

Time Capsule is an interesting, captivating collection of poems by a very curious and telling pen name, “Ideas with Ink.” This collection features very beautiful poems, some poignantly written, some very evocative, and others insightful, all assembled under different themes, including existence, odes, dreams, questions, answers, and love. I was curious to know, at least, the name of the author of this beautiful collection, and so I turned to the "About the Author" page, and to my greatest surprise, the name wasn’t there. Just a teenage young "person" who gives their voice to the emotions that humans harbor within their breasts, the common sensation of the blues, an experience of the naked sky, a sundial, a stir in the leaves, and the heartache.

This is a poetry collection that seems to encapsulate the reality as felt by a young soul, captured through deceptively simple lines of poetry that are delightful to read. It is interesting to learn that this collection is from a very young writer, because some of the poems like "Sailing" are very deep and symbolic and I could read my own experience in them. How lovely when the poet connects their sensation to the feel of nature, sailing:

"Through the broken glass beach
of my dreams
The sky is naked and the rain
Embittered”

Time Capsule invites the reader to look deeper into the existential themes of life — love, life itself, dreams, death, and a lot more. These poems seem to burst out from the very depths of the poet with poetic exuberance. They are rhythmic, short and easy to read, and readers will enjoy the different seasons of the soul they invite them to celebrate. I found these poems very delightful and refreshing, and will definitely be going back to some of my favorite ones.