I appreciated not just the poems but the art work included to add structure and compliment the collection. Each art piece gave me a sense of the tone of each section of poetry. Poetry is a profoundly personal experience but I especially resonated with the poem Leaf After Leaf in the Pure Wind. It was beautiful. Some of the poems were quite short, which can be a way to cut to the bone of things but some just left me wanting a few more lines or another stanza.

Poetry opens up the doors of perspective into someone's interpretation of the world. It's another way of experiencing language and writing. I consider myself a novice of poetry and yet I quickly found myself becoming enthralled. What I love about poetry is how each individual can find their own meaning and personal interpretation.

IN THE DARK, SOFT EARTH -- the cover and title initially captured my attention. Feelings of love, nature, spirituality, and dreams created a very earthy and ethereal atmosphere albeit dark at times. Frank Watson was able to create sensational verses which evoked strong feelings within my soul. An assortment of emotions came bubbling to the surface, demanding to be felt. I found myself gracefully navigating between pages of landscapes filled with peace and tranquility to jazz filled sultry evenings.

I believe everyone will find a little something of what they're looking for within this work. IN THE DARK, SOFT EARTH will be a collection that I revist many more times in the future and I look forward to any gained perspective during rereads.

Moving words the capture even a novice poetry reader from the beginning. Illustrations accompany and provoke deeper meaning and thought. Words and tone reassure and soothe a troubled soul, particularly during an unsettling time of crisis and pandemic chaos.

Poetry has always been a genre that I admire from afar. I write a few poems every now and then, and lyrics are my favorite thing about music, but other than that, I don’t read many poems. I saw IN THE DARK, SOFT EARTH on NetGalley and it caught my eye because of its concept regarding nature. I was not disappointed.

Frank Watson’s works are very fluid – this is a very quick read that makes sense in its entirety and delivers beautiful mental images. The author is very good at painting pictures with his words through the various short poems. The illustrations included every few pages are also a great addition to the writing. The chapter in which every tarot card inspired a poem was my favorite – especially the one for the Magician.

This is absolutely perfect for a rainy day. I will most definitely reread this sometime soon.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for granting me an e-ARC.

Absolutely beautiful!! The poems have a beautiful choice of words that pull you in to the visualization of the authors words. This is a book I would read over and over and get a different picture in my head every time.

This poet did an amazing job! His words and images help readers understand what is being said in each stanza. I like how powerful each poem stood for its meaning and the beautiful titles to each poem. I would reccomend this to other poets and present his piece of work in a classroom setting. My favorite poem is the seashells on the shore and the Native American image and the poem conected to it.

Thanks for Netgalley & respective publishers for sending me a copy.

Intriguing ! !
Wonderful verse of Metaphor and Hyperbole ! !

This book Poetry has some deep and thoughtful poems, but what happened that Rhythm wasn't captivating which would hold the reader. I think I felt that might be because I've read very ancient poems in my life.
Recommended for poetry readers, as this would astonished you with personification in those simple words.

I enjoyed this tremendously, though but wouldn't necessarily be one the kind of book that I usually sought out. The poems are endowed with such beauty and mystery.

Entertaining and intresting collection of poetry.

Well written with stuning art.

Thank you Netgalley for providing an ARC

Loved the poetry and nice inclusions of the paintings and major arcana. Not a whole lot of words in the poems but makes the poems what they are - very well done.

the poetry written was somewhat simplistic and have heard some of the phrases prior , would not consider this a work of art at any case , many seemed to be too short

I was expecting a more interesting book. Although some of the poems were entertaining, I didn't feel that there was feeling in them, as if they were forced verses in some way, and many repetitive ideas. I'm not sure if it should be a thematic collection of poems, but if so I didn't feel that the concept was well developed. The same happened with the included art, some paintings were pleasing to the eye, but I didn't understand why others were included.

This was one of the most beautifully designed poetry books I have read. I adored the art that accompanied the poems.

Very easy to read in one sitting. Perhaps it was simply my phone but it was sometimes hard to tell where one poem ended and another began. It did not however hinder my enjoyment.

This stuck with me and is undoubtedly (in my opinion) the best line in the book: "Burnt like embers, burnt like the sea - alone in time and dead to me"

I really like the way the author wrote the poetry and one poem in particular I highlighted because I enjoyed it that much. I flew through this collection within an hour and I feel like the imagery was amazing along with the artwork in the collection.

🌞🌞🌞 It was a good poetry book.

I really like some poems from there and I really understand them, I think, but the writing was weird and the rhyme was weird too.

It offered the whimsical fact, that I loved, and made me believe that we are in this magical world, but at the same time I was bored basically half of it.

The other half was amazing, good writing, a lot of good poems and a good feeling, but as a whole it wasn't my favourite poetry book I've ever read.

Mabey the subject wasn't for me or mabey the way it was written wasn't my favorite, I don't know. But it was just an ok book.

*I thank Net Galley for offering me this arc to read.

While a few poems resonated with this reader (I was most intrigued by the poems inspired by traditional readings of Tarot cards), I found much of the imagery and format repetitive. The language was lyrical and invoked a mysterious and occasionally eerie atmosphere. That being said, I wasn't as moved by this collection as I had hoped I would be.

Thanks to NetGalley and Plum White Press for letting me read and review this ARC of this book of poetry.
I've always been of fan of poetry and the imagery and feelings expressed so uniquely and creatively through the view of the soul when written in poetry form.
This is a nice collection of poetry with various types and subjects written about and feelings/emotions expressed throughout the poems. It has a wide range of topics, feelings and such covered in this collection.
While I wasn't always a fan of some of the poems, I still enjoyed reading and seeing the imagery created and feelings expressed from a lot of these poems as well.
This shows a good range of poetry that is covered in this collection and touches on beautiful things with nature, love, life and death and other topics also, but it does touch on and has poetry in it as well that can be a bit dark and go a bit into other topics such as lust, desire and such as well so it covers and touches on both good and bad aspects of things like love, lust, life, death and such.
It was a nice change from what I usually read to sample a nice, short and sweet collection of poetry that was also a quick and easy read for the most part that was simply meant to be enjoyed and tasted like a sample of desserts.
If you are a poet, like poetry or enjoy trying something different for a change once in a while as I do then you might enjoy this collection of poetry as a bit of fresh air and break from the norm as I did.

I appreciated some of the turns of phrase, but a great deal of it seemed forced to me. The word choices and imagry seemed repetative. It's not that it was bad, or unpleasant, just that it was not outstanding.

Lyrical. Mysterious. Sensual. I adored this volume, particularly Book Eight, An Entrance to the Tarot Garden.

The poems flow along nicely with beautiful imagery. There is artwork throughout the book. Beautifully done. Very nice collection ton that ended too soon.