It seems to me like all contemporary poetry is free verse. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. While sometimes Beau’s collection doesn’t feel like poetry so much as short sentences, I found that I did enjoy it.

The poetry definitely comes across as more conversational and confessional. Sometimes Beau seems to be talking to the reader, giving advice. Sometimes it seems like he’s sharing his deepest thoughts and feelings with us, or talking directly to his past partners. It made the collection incredibly easy to be swept into, because it seemed so personal.

The poems also cover a lot of universal topics that spoke to me. Love, grief, and self esteem/self care. I thought he really expressed grief and pain well. I also liked many of his poems about love and how love should not only be attraction but be a comfort between two people who know each other so well.

What threw me at first, however, is that the poems are not organized by topic. Since there are usually at least three poems per page, this mean the first one would be about loss, the second about romance, the last about a breakup. I found the lack of organization a bit jarring at first, but as I got farther into the collection it stopped bothering me too much. It helped that throughout the collection there are pages with typography of short sentences or phrases. Those pages made the collection unique and gave readers a break from the ‘lengthier’ poetry. I did, however, find that the poems about love and attraction sometimes contradicted one another.

"Bloom" is a nice, small poetry collection and I finished it really quickly. I may not love this collection, but many of the poems really resonated with me. I also liked the design of the book.

Although I wouldn’t call this poetry per say, I did really enjoy this collection. These little ‘poems’ (for lack of a more accurate description of these little snippets of text) were for the most, quite beautifully written. Taplin is able to perfectly capture emotions or experiences that often we have no words for. For that alone, I really enjoyed going through these poems. Occasionally, I would also find myself pausing on a line here and there, simply because of how beautifully it was phrased. I also found many of them quite relatable, which only made this collection even more enjoyable to read.

While these are not necessarily poems that will leave a deep, long-lasting impression on everyone, many readers will still find it very enjoyable to go through them.

Thank you to NetGalley for the chance to read and review this little collection.

"Bloom is a perfect bound collection of over 140 poems touching on growth, the heart, their stories, their scars, the challenging times, and the spectacular ones"

I love poetry. I love reading something, relating to it, and feeling like someone else understands how I'm feeling. I didn't feel it in the bulk of these poems - and that's totally okay. That doesn't make the messages any less meaningful to anyone else.

I'm happy to see something different than the kind of writing that's been trending, with a few sentences broken up in seemingly random spots. ( Not that their messages aren't well received )

The format of the ebook I read was interesting, which lent some visual appeal into the mix. The page coloration changed, as well as the layout and font sizes and colors. The poems themselves were organized well, so there weren't poems placed on pages with completely unrelated topics.

This collection wasn't a super homerun for me, it landed somewhere in the middle of meh and I liked it.

I was somewhat familiar with Beau Taplin previously, so when I saw this newest book was listed on Netgalley, I jumped at the chance to read it.

First things first, the design of this is so incredibly aesthetically pleasing. The way blush, black, and white pages intermingle just makes my heart sing. Fans of typography as well will be excited that several times throughout, poems are given an almost block-quote significance taking up an entire page and typed in different font. However, other structural aspects made this a little more confusing for me, specifically when there would be three or so poems to a page. Beau's pieces are often incredibly short and small, so when talking about the economy of a page it makes sense, but it made the pages feel a bit crowded. I found it hard to savor each individual poem when the next one picks up only a line or so later.

As for the words themselves, I had a rather middle of the road experience. There were a few highs, and several turns of phrases that I enjoyed, but overall they didn't resonate with me profoundly. It felt more like a collection of musings, advice, and tumblr philosophy than the rawness of experience that I tend to enjoy more in my poetry.

beau will forever be one of my favourite poets (and people). his words just have a way of sinking into your skin and staying with you. some of these felt like they were written for me. i really needed some of the reminders that are given in here.

“This is your renewal.

This is your regrowth.

You may come into this softly or bristling with thorns,
beneath the light of the sun or the moon and the stars,
so long as you always remember it is never too late to
return to the root of your heart and begin again.”

This was the first one of beau’s books that I’ve picked up and I wasn’t disappointed! I loved all the different themes this touched on. I find sometimes it’s so hard to find poetry that’s relatable when so much of it centers on only love and heartache. But I loved how it was about that and so many different things. The reason it doesn’t get a higher rating was because I felt like it was a bit boring at times. It felt a little repetitive and I just couldn’t get into the entire thing as a whole. But some were so good and I overall did enjoy it! Excited to read more from him in the future!

I want to love this, I really do. It's just doesn't feel like a "stunning" and "twist" collection of poetry. Most of the poetry in this book felt like recycled texts from tumblr, they don't seem like something the author really feel, if you know what I mean? It's not like I'm knowing what happen behind the scene but I just feel like that and as the result, I couldn't connect with the pieces. The pieces also felt very disorganized and contradicting with each other, one time we learn about finding and loving yourself, as well and finding the right and healthy love, but the next piece is about being madly in love and chasing that toxic love no matter what's the cost. It does not have enough substance and connection for me, that I find myself can't remember anything from the collection.

Yet another beautiful poetry collection. Not only did I love all the poems, but the layout was really nice. Each poem spoke to me in one way or another and I absolutely loved that. I would love to buy this in print when it's released.

Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing for the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

There was something in Beau Taplin's words touched my soul. I discovered him years ago on Instagram and I enjoyed reading his poems. I'm glad I had a chance to read his latest collection because some of the poems were relevant to my life. I enjoyed it a lot especially about life lessons. It brings a positivity and drive to face new challenges. Overall, this is a great collection

Bloom by Beau Taplin is advertised as a collection of one hundred and forty poems. Taplin is an internationally recognized author and social media sensation. Following a formative education at Melbourne Rudolf Steiner, Beau found some success as a songwriter before turning his passions to poetry and prose.

Poetry is a complex art of using elements of language, rhyme, meter, and alliteration, to create emotion. Poetry was once sang using the elements of language to aid in oral histories. We remember early nursery rhymes because they do rhyme. Homer’s epics use meter to help keep the story moving. John Donne among others used alliteration: One short sleepe past, wee wake eternally, / And death shall be no more; death, thou shalt die. Not all poetry follow these examples. Prose poetry, for example, uses none of the above but creates imagery with its words. Rimbaud:

And send us, whipped through the lapping waters
and the spilled beverages, to pitch through the barking
of the mastiffs.

Today we see several authors presenting their work as poetry. Lang Leav and others certainly do have their following. Taplin like Leav started off as “internet sensations” and moved to print. Most readers of this material I see are the younger crowd. Popularity seems to be in that teen to the twenty-something group which makes sense. Editing cliches and truisms may seem like new material for the younger crowd but for older, experienced readers the words sound recycled and lack the basics of poetry:

Yes, love is all about sacrifice and
compromise, but it’s also important
to establish a limit.
You shouldn’t have to throw
your whole life away to make a
relationship work.
If you have to lose yourself to
please your partner, you’re with the
wrong person.
~ Compromise

I see advice column writing with stylized line length. I do not see poetry. I see truisms, memes, and Ann Landers. I think it’s great that more young people are reading in the age of Netflix and PlayStation. Nice advice for young readers but not poetry.

A beautiful, simple, and elegant glance into the poet's repertoire.

In a similar style to Rupi Kaur, Beau Taplin writes beautiful and hauntingly deep poems on a wide variety of topics from soul mates to heartbreak, the wonders of the universe and so much more. There were so many poems that I found myself stopping to really think about it and questioning well what if? Others seemed as if Taplin himself tapped (I understand that is a horrible pun - I'm sorry) into my brain and put ideas I do not know how to explain into words.

The poems are rather short -although, there are a few longer ones- but they really pack a lot of thought into them. Throughout the book, I felt the sense that narrator (or author) was trying to send out a message to someone they love and/or lost. As if they had that special person, but it just did not work and so they had to regretfully let that person slip from their hands yet still have a small role in each other's lives. It felt like a mini story.

I loathed poetry for most of my life. Then my child got cancer, I got a divorce, and suddenly my life and experiences weren't all just joyous and effortless. Sometimes to enjoy poetry, you need to understand the best and worst parts of life. This book is beautiful, from the cover to its very words. The flow of the poetry feels natural and by the time you've finished it, you have very nearly fully experienced someone else's anguish and joy.

A book I'm going to return to be unread as couldn't download

Is it any wonder that you can get lost in a poem?
I loved reading this collection because each piece resonated with me. I found myself laughing, wallowing in my grief, angry, delirious, heart-broken, charmed, happy and to have felt all that is something I cannot forget.
I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in exchange for a honest review and instead it felt like having a heart-to-heart with a true friend.

This is another book in the recent genre I'm calling "Platitudes, NOT POETRY." Poetry is art made with language; this book, and other recent books like it, are cliches recycled with boring sentences. There were a few glimpses of what Taplin could do - "The Boxer," for instance - but for the most part, I just find this type of writing lazy and uninspired.

Wow.... i had read some of Beau's work in the past and was very excited to read Bloom. I devoured the book in one sitting, his beautiful words touched me and i have completely fallen in love with his work.
I couldn't possibly pick a favourite piece, each and every one was stunning as the last. The poems were relatable and glorious.
Can't recommend this book enough, i just wish Beau's work was more readily available to the u.k.
Thank you to both Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read this book.