Dearly and Other Poems || Mini Reviews

Another mini review post for poetry today!

I seem to be struggling lately to find a poetry collection where the majority of the pieces stand out to me. No, it’s not about being overly critical or harsh with rating collections and books, but about pieces either resonating with one’s mind and soul or just standing out, shining, unique and truthful. So far it’s just clichés and major repetition to sit through.

Sadly, none of these four collections hit the mark for me, and even two previous modern poets, whose work I really enjoyed earlier this year, just didn’t live up to the same standard of writing for me.

DISCLAIMER: This review could contain possible spoilers based on my opinions. All opinions and views are my own.

Dearly by Margaret Atwood

Challenge prompt: A 2020 best-seller book
Originally published: 2020

Pages: 137
Format: E-book

Thoughts:

Most of the pieces have an air of loss and sadness within them, and death hangs heavy over this book. It’s written as a tribute but I feel like I’m not the right audience possibly for this read. Some of the pieces weren’t well written, talking about random things with no connections to anything. Other pieces just simply didn’t make sense. There were one or two pieces that genuinely stood out to me, but overall it wasn’t a great read.

My Rating:

The book has a rating of 3.75 on GoodReads. I gave it a 3.

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The Strength in Our Scars by Bianca Sparacino

Originally published: 2018

Pages: 152
Format: E-book

Thoughts:

This collection of poems didn’t come across as poetry, instead a collection of one liners and affirmations to guide and inspire the reader. Like the reader took well known quotes and sayings and just added elaborated detail to them. I didn’t get a unique feel from any of the pieces and hardly found anything relatable in them. A lot of the pieces were repetitive and some advice was painfully cliché.

My Rating:

The book has a rating of 4.16 on GoodReads. I gave it a 3.

a fire like you by upile chisala

Originally published: 2020

Pages: 160
Format: E-book

Thoughts:

Compared to the previous book I read by the poet, this collection was a big letdown. I felt like it lacked the emotional punch that comes with struggles and inspiration. Overall, it was an interesting read but it could’ve used a little better wording and structure to stand out to a reader. Some of the pieces made me think of the Milk and Honey collection by rupi kaur, of which I wasn’t a fan of AT ALL and that definitely contributed to me choosing my rating when I was done reading.

My Rating:

The book has a rating of 3.93 on GoodReads. I gave it a 3.

More reviews from this author

Nectar by upile chisala

Algedonic by R.H. Sin

Originally published: 2017

Pages:130
Format: E-book

Thoughts:

I seem to really be struggling to find a collection by this poet again that lives up to the same standard as She’s Strong but She’s Tired left me with. Some pieces are worthy of a read and others had cringe-worthy plastered all over them. The themes chosen for this collection are strong but sadly those messages weren’t delivered with the strength they were suppose to exert. I get this is poetry and a way to express yourself artistically but can we please just go back to following at least the most basic grammar rules?