I'm learning little by little this year to read poetry,
I trully ony started giving it a go, now in this year of 2019, and every book makes me feel something different.
But this one, Cee Jay Spring really had me feeling!

From one poem to another, I got broken and unbroken, I had to stop and re-read. I had to skip and then after a while come back again. I had to come back again to try and understand what I felt.

It was just... A wild ride.
A very good nice wild ride, one I would go on again! and again.

*An e-ARC was given through Netgalley in return for an honest review.*

I don’t think I’ve enjoyed a poetry collection as much as this.

It began with a rocky start – poems about love that made me hydrate my eyes by rolling every few seconds, inconsistent and strange illustrations that ended up somewhat disturbing. However, after the initial 7 (yes I counted), I found a few that I really liked.

After the first chapter, every poem was enjoyable. There were around 8 poems that left me speechless and became instant favourites. A few of those are ‘Today the World Ended’, ‘Quiet What I Wish to Be’, ‘True, Real Life’ and ‘My Only Fear’. I absolutely loved the free-flow verses and the diverse topics in this poetry collection.

However, I had a few issues with this that although I can look past, it is rather disappointing. These issues are more towards the formatting of the poetry collection. I downloaded a kindle version of this, hence I’m not sure if some of the text merged together into a line instead of it being split. Furthermore, the illustrations were inconsistent. The art styles and size constantly changed and towards disappeared completely from Chapter Four onward. I was unable to enjoy some of the earlier poems because of this.

Overall, it was an incredibly enjoyable read that speaks to my heart. If you are dipping your toes into poetry, want to read poems covering different topics and just want to read something that can possibly put your thoughts and feelings into words, this is the book to pick up.

From the book cover, I believed it to be Gothic poems. But it wasn't so. These poems were bad. And this really aches to say that cause I know how difficult it is to expose oneself in writing, but there's just no way around it. Not only were the poems bad but the drawings and photos were awful too. The whole layout looked very unprofessional and not nice. I think I only made it 33% of the way through before I DNed it cause I actually want to spend time reading books that are worthy of my time.

Sorry if it sounds a bit harsh, but when the poet literally uses, "Roses are red, violets are blue" to begin a poem, I can't even begin to take the rest of the book seriously.

This book of poems was really anything special. By the cover and description I thought they would be Gothic poems. But really they read like teenage angst.
There are a few really good poems that did reach me emotionally however. I also enjoyed the poems that used pictographs as part of the content. I thought that was really clever.

I throughly enjoyed this collection of poetry. From the very beginning I felt like I understood where the author was in their life. I felt as if I was experiencing each poem while I was reading them. My heart was breaking and being put back together with each poem I read. I wasn’t expecting the religious aspect in the collection and I feel like to some it could come as a surprise. I also felt like the religious poetry was placed in an awkward spot in the collection. Overall, I really enjoyed it and would read anything else he publishes.

The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

"Poetry Dead to Society" is a collection of poems that face important themes such as love, dreams and life itself. Even if I like poetry, I have to admit this book didn't really get me emotionally involved.
There was nothing bad about the poems, but I didn't find anything so innovative as I would expected from the intriguing title.

"Poetry Dead to Society" promises to "awaken the life of poetry in our society", yet the poems are far from ground-breaking both in terms of formula and thematically. A collection of subpar and forgettable poems.

Poetry is a moving concept I find. I try to read as much poetry as time allows from modern writers.
Poetry Dead to Society is a strange collection over six chapters that join the work loosely together.
The title is both thematic in many of the thoughts brought out in differing poems, talking about being a nobody and less than someone but also in tribute to the passing of the writer’s beloved sister.
There is hope and despair, love and broken-heartedness as well as joy amid the deepest grief.
What prevents anything being more than just a collection of rabid ramblings is a sense of purpose and a structure. The death of Shirley Spring in this manner has galvanised Cee Jay in bringing these poems to a wider audience and like any good writer he shares emotion, the intangible and a sense of belief.
The collection highlights some of Shirley’s own work and they fit seamlessly into this book of poems.
I always find lines or verse that resonates with me. In any group of poems, hopefully some will take you out of yourself and give reason to doubt, reflect or smile.
Words remain powerful and in certain groupings that can be very unsettling, disturbing or echoes of our own past.
I would encourage any reader to go to the end before passing judgement. Don’t get stalled by one poem or chapter, see the whole.
The anarchy of For you, I will die for you left me very worried but then it made better sense and leaves me conflicted.
Today the World Ended is another difficult read for other reasons. I enjoyed Quiet What I Wish to be.
Changing World to Life and Daydreams also stand out to me. Hope you get a chance to read it for yourselves.