I have mixed feelings about The Road Between. The poet does some things really well. For example, the poet knows how to handle rhyme and rhythm and manages to make the sing-song style of the poems sound natural. I enjoyed the different styles of poems including traditional verse and prose-like poems. It’s clear the poems are written from the heart. However, so much doesn’t work. The poems inside don’t match the blurb. The collection is stuffed with angsty love poems, many of them about relationships that have gone wrong. Love poems are ten-a-penny and it’s rare to find one that doesn’t sound like hundreds of others. Unfortunately, I found nothing particularly original about any of the poems. There are also a load of one-sentence self-helm poems that left me cold. Some of the love poems felt like they were written by a teenage girl pining over the cutest boy/girl in school.

I requested this book in an effort to find more poetry that I enjoy. There were parts that I liked and parts that really didn't sit well with me.

I enjoyed how the other played with form. Some of the poems were written in lines, some in prose style, some rhymed and others didn't. The rhymes that were there felt natural and unforced. The poems had a natural rhythm no matter the style in which they were written. The author experimented with imagery and figurative language throughout which is what I look for and appreciate most in poetry.

Because I am personally not a fan of the pop-poetry style (one or two lines of advice-like or self-affirming prose) I could really have done without those. To me, these pieces seem too underdeveloped and pander to a societal norm of quick input with little effort which is not what I like my poetry to do. I like to be able to sit with poetry for awhile, stew over it, find ambiguity and nuance on the page, and not just be handed a fortune cookie-esque thought.

In general, the themes definitely felt authentic for this author, but seemed somewhat trite. While there were times I enjoyed the way things were said, it didn't feel like these pieces were saying anything new to me about the subjects of love, loss, and personal growth.

Overall, it was an okay, quick read.

great poetry with some beautiful imagery! Highly recommend to poetry fans.