⭐⭐ 2 Stars

A collection of heartfelt poetry that sometimes bordered on the line between lyrical and amaturish.

Although I enjoyed the politically relevant poetry I found some of the shorter poems to just not pack the same kind of punch as the longer ones. It felt like the writer was just trying to fill up space between the longer poems so this could be a book rather than a pamphlet.

My favourite poems in the collection were about the writer's experiences as a woman of colour and how this has impacted her life personally along with the lives of her family and friends. I would love to read a collection that focussed more on this rather than the female experience as a whole. And I would read K.Y. Robinson work again because it takes a good poet to have an entire book using one motif and for it not to get boring.

But I only bookmarked 7 poems out of this 160-page collection which summarises my feelings on it as a whole. Not life-changing but not terrible.

⚠Trigger Warnings⚠: mental illness, sexual trauma, self-harm, racism, and violence.

I received this book as an ARC via NetGalley📚 in exchange for an honest review.

TRIGGER WARNINGS: Sexual trauma, self-harm, mental illness, violence and racism.

Last year, around the same month, I read The Chaos of Longing by this same author and I loved it. I think that one thing that really characterizes this author's poetry is that it always feels very personal, and love that about poets.

This work is divided into three main sections called: immerse, drown and emerge. In part conveys the author's journey through some dark moments, but at the same time, it shows how one can heal. And even though it felt a bit repetitive, it also was relatable a lot of times. It had some stunning use of language and just fell in love with it. I hope to read more from this author in the future.

Any time I pick up a book of poetry, I think of my Irish grandmother, who loved poetry and gave me several poetry books. She died in 2014 and it has been too long since I picked up a collection of poetry. I was provided a free e-book copy of this book by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Submerge is divided into three parts. It can be easy to fly through a book of poetry. The sections helped me to stop and reflect on the poems I had read. The artwork at each section is beautiful and gives a peak into what to expect in the following poems.

The theme of water flows throughout the book, making the poems well connected. This is the first poetry book I've read that has kept on theme so well.

Several poems resonated with me. I felt like they were a gift. Poetry most seems like the soul of the poet laid bare. I'll admit sometimes I struggle with poetry to know if it is memoir or fiction. Submerge is telling a story. The poems about depression and bipolar disorder are accurate. She illustrates with words exactly how it feels, better than I've ever read in any prose or poetry.

wow wow wow. what a breath taking collection of poetry. I never wanted to put it down and was hoping for more when I reached the end. She touches upon love, longing, intimacy, and mental illness. I loved the way she so openly speaks of her struggles of being bipolar without romanticizing it like so many do. She isn't looking for love to be a cure or saying someone else can make her 'better' like so many people do, but she writes of looking for someone to love her as is. Her poem of what things you should and shouldn't say to someone with mental illness was so powerful. This book is a must have for sure.

I loved The Chaos of Loving so I thought I would love this one too. The drawings are beautiful and breathtaking but i didn’t feel it as much as the first one.

I couldn't connect with the book Submerge. There were trigger warnings against sexual trauma, self harm, racism, and violence, mental illness. And the book is divided into immerse, drown and emerge.

I like only one or two poems. Most of the poems covered the same topic of lust and sexual intercourse. It was quite restricted to only one aspect, which I get might lead to other aspects of life but got monotonous after 75 pages and then the book was just a drag to read and finish.

There was no emphasis on self empowerment, there were only metaphorical descriptions of sexual intercourse. There were rarely any poems about racism or violence. Most of it was yearning and blaming.

I couldn't click with these poems, if the author dwelves into other aspects in their next book, I'd like to read it and perhaps find them interesting.

Trigger warnings for this book: mental illness, sexual trauma, self-harm, racism, and violence.

This poetry collection didn't work for me and I'm quite sad about it. I was so happy to have the chance to read something by K.Y. Robinson because she's an author that's been on my radar for a while now. Unfortunately I was a bit disappointed by this poetry collection. Nothing really resonated with me and at times the continuous metaphors with water were just heavy and I felt the need for something different. My favourite section is probably the last one, "Emerge", which shows a journey toward healing through self-care and gratitude.

Three sections guide this verse-based exploration. I loved K.Y. Robinson's use of language -- whether featuring two lines or a full page entry, these poems are lovely.