The Path to Kindness: Poems of Connection and Joy is a positive little collection, and I found myself getting excited to go back to it, as I was making way through.

Sprinkled throughout are prompts and questions to allow the reader to reflect on the impact that the pieces are having, and is truly trying to help the reader on the Path to Kindness.

This anthology is exactly what the world needs right now, a path to kindness.

While i didn't love all of the poems in the anthology, there were many that stopped me in my tracks and moved me. I also enjoyed Crews' opening and reflections throughout the anthology.

This is a beautiful and uplifting anthology that reminds us to live consciously and to cherish people and I would definitely recommend it!

I loved that this book of poetry had the feeling of a gentle hug. With everything going on around the globe this past year I think this book would make an excellent gift for someone who needs a little extra comfort.

This collection of poetry put together was really good to read and gave me hope again. It was nice to read things about kindness and hope once again. Thank you!

What a wonderful collection of poems this was!! Heartfelt and with beautiful prose, I loved each and every one of them! The themes were great and it was all such a cute read!

The beautiful cover of this book was one of the things that attracted me to this anthology, however reading this collection, this book cover’s beauty is equal to the quality of the words contained in it.

A fantastic collection of poetry that connect together one by one, A Path To Kindness shares a diverse and thoughtful series of poems that touch on so many different moments in life and give you something to think about. Each section has a page for reflection where you’re given a moment to take in the words and be inspired to find your own, and those moments allow you to take the words in.

The breadth of talent collected here touch on so many thoughts and feelings, nature, grief, family, love and so much more and certainly could inspire a new writer, or just a way to get something off your mind in a journal as this book really gives you food for thought and a way to pick yourself up mentally if you need it.

An easy read and a delight to delve in to when you need a moment of optimism.

4*

(I received an ARC from Netgalley for honest review).

The Path to Kindness is a poetry collection curated and edited by James Crew. It contains poems which aim at inspiring you, delighting you, entertaining you, and being in your memories like a ray of sunshine. This year was a difficult time for everyone and all of us struggled in one sense or another. For some, it was physical, for some mental, for some financial, and for most of us, all of it together. Pandemic hit the world and everyone was struggling and hopeless, but this book really uplifts your mood and soul with the kind words written in there.

Apart from the positivity it spreads, it also leaves a trail of beautiful images and metaphors for the readers to enjoy. It really was a mood lifter for me. As it is a collection of several poems from different poets, its style varies from poem to poem, but what remains constant is the kindness and hope that emanate from it.

I loved this book and would recommend this to all of you who want to read something positive and good this year. You won't be disappointed.

Ever since I discovered my love of writing and reading “modern” poetry (forms that venture away from the likes of Shakespeare or Donne), I have kept an eye out for collections that would be of interest to me. As someone who has “Kindness always comes back” in one email signature and “If you can be anything in this world, be kind” in another, I figured this collection was made for me.

Unfortunately, it was not the match I thought it would be.

There are many interesting aspects to The Path to Kindness that I have yet to see in other anthologies or collections. Namely, the intermittent breaks between the sections of poetry where the author offers a mini-analysis on a poem from the section and then offers an opportunity for future reflection and mindfulness. I know there is a collection by Crews before this one, How to Love the World, and am unsure if this feature is new to it or carried from the previous collection. That said, I don’t quite know how I feel about it. On one hand, it was interesting and provided a nice palette-cleansing break from reading poem after poem after poem. On the other hand, I’m not sure how I feel about these mini-explication articles. Are we not to come to poetry with our own gaze, and take from the words what we find?

My biggest grievance with The Path to Kindness is that I strongly believe many of these poems are not poems. Granted, it could simply be that this version of the ARC is not formatted correctly and therefore I am not receiving these poems in their correct shape. However, as it stands, many of these poems to me seem like what an English professor of mine would call “proems,” or prose-poems. Their form borders on the essay for me, and that takes away from my enjoyment. Many of them also feel unfinished to me–as if the authors were trying to leave it open-ended for the reader to inject their own interpretation.

I did seriously enjoy some of the poems. I am so happy I discovered “Small Lesson” by Lorna Crozier. Unfortunately, the poems I loved were few and far in-between, and the proem style poems are simply not to my taste.

If you enjoy longer, more prose-like poems, you may enjoy this collection. But if not, then you may want to pass on The Path to Kindness in search of another road.

•~Book Review~•
🌾Kindness.
/ˈkʌɪn(d)nəs/

noun -
• the quality of being friendly, generous, and considerate.
• a kind act

Earth. A planet. Home to millions of people. Sorry if I do not know the approximate number of people that inhabit the earth but while walking on the road, have you seen the faces of people that pass you by? What do you see? People with myriad faces. Smiling, talking, sad , happy and so much more. Can you see what goes on inside their hearts? Their minds? In their heads? So much hidden into this little body of ours, incomprehensible to others while everyone of us suffer from something inside.
A little act of kindness.
This. These little tiny acts of compassion is so much more, so much soothing, so much healing. Creating waves of joys and connections, these tiny acts have a huge transcendental power that changes your moments and infact your lives.

The Path To Kindness is collection of poems of Joys and kindness , edited by James Crew. This collection has a rich content endowed with beautiful soul touching poems of various writers like Julia Alvarez, Marie Howe, Ellen Bass, Naomi Shihab Nye, Alberto Ríos, Ross Gay, and Ada Limón, as well as new and emerging voices. Featured Black writers include January Gill O’Neil, Tracy K. Smith, and Cornelius Eady. Native American writers include Kimberly Blaeser, Joy Harjo (current U.S. Poet Laureate), and Linda Hogan. The collection also features international voices, including Canadian poets Lorna Crozier and Susan Musgrave celebrating the joys of kindness and mindfulness. This book of poems comes with journaling prompts, exploration of certain selected poems, book readers guide and introduction to all the contributing writers.
🌾
Each poem in the book has touched my soul. I can't even describe the peace it has given me in my times of heart ache and mental anguish. I am fortunate to discover this book and having read it, this book is going to be one of my favourites all time. I have read several poems twice and thrice and so on , and everytime I have read it, it has soothed my heart and my mind. I cannot thank James Crew, Storey Publishing and Netgalley enough for providing me with the the opportunity to read and review it.

I like the concept but nothing hit close to home at all. All the poems kinda sucked. Nothing about any of them stuck with me nor did I truly enjoy any of them. I like that there are discussions and writing/meditation prompts. I cannot personally recommend this collection.

I enjoyed many of the poems in The Path to Kindness. I like collections of poetry that feature multiple poets as I find the book stays incredibly fresh throughout. The main reason I liked these poems is that many of them had to do with nature (which is my favourite subject in poetry.) Lots of beautiful writing as well.

I found the title of the collection a little misleading given the poems I read. That was the only thing that was off to me.

I received an eARC from Storey Publishing through NetGalley. All opinions are 100% my own.

Thank you, NetGalley for the chance to read and review this ARC!

This is not the first collection by James Crews that I’ve read, and it won’t be the last! This is not to say I loved every poem, I did not, or I appreciate the exercises, I skip those. I love the warmth that Crews is able to embed in his curations; he clearly loves each poem and doesn’t reserve that love for the more well-known pieces, but for all of them.

That being said, I did love every other poem so I shouldn’t complain too much!

“We lay together under the stars.
We know ourselves to be part of mystery.
It is unspeakable.
It is everlasting.
It is for keeps.”

Genre: Poetry, Essays and Collections
Actual Rating: 2.5 stars
Trigger Warnings: None that I can think of.

I’ve read poetry collections before, and have always had mixed feelings about them. Sometimes I hate them, sometimes I love them. Sometimes they’re right in between. I think the latter is how I feel about “The Path to Kindness.”

Some poems were good, while some felt slightly forced into the narrative. It’s not I didn’t enjoy reading this collection, it’s just I didn’t feel inclined to keep reading at times.

I think my favorite parts of this collection were the reflective pauses. They included an invitation to write down your thoughts, and I liked the prompts.

I would recommend this book to people who have been lonely through this pandemic and who like poetry and journaling.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This looks like it has a number of editing errors and it just wasn't particularly interesting. I honestly was kind of disappointed by this

Regards to NetGalley for providing me with this digital ARC in exchange for my honest thoughts. This opinion is mine

Sincere messages and beautiful ideas are still nothing without a good execution

Look, I really wanted to at least like this book, but it was not it. I assure you, the ideas and messages are beautiful, the writing is gorgeous, but the execution makes me speechless, and not in a good way. Talking about generosity is nice, very nice, but you can't write it in an 8-lines-poem about folding laundry.
I feel like the main problem that I have with most of the poems, that they're not actually poems, but sentence fragments juxtaposed with each other to make "poems." To be honest, it would be good if these authors had decided to write a self-help/motivational book (like The Comfort Book) instead. Their writing works much better in prose.

I did not like this book, which was quite the disappointment, because the cover art on it was gorgeous. Hopefully one day, I'll be able to get into it.

Overall I enjoyed this book - I love books that have multiple authors, because that means you get multiple emotions, experiences, and adventures to enjoy! Each addition to this book was thoughtful and thought-provoking, emotional and beautiful. These are the types of words you read when you need something to kick you into a contemplative zen. Sometimes, I had a hard time connecting with the words I was reading, but other times I had to take a break because the words were hitting very close to home. With books like this, that’s to be expected, however I do wish I would’ve been able to connect a little bit more than I did. Overall, beautifully written and assembled - definitely give it a try!

The Path to Kindness is a beautiful book of poetry. Lovingly edited by James Crews, each section includes reflection and writing exercises for those inspired to write their own. There are discussion questions at the end to further study these works. I enjoyed taking a break from my day to sit with a poem or two. I know I’ll enjoy returning to this book in the future.

Thank you NetGalley for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This collection is truly something special.
The poems in this collection come to life, and it touches your heart.
I enjoyed the diversity of the well established and the new voices in poetry.
A lot of these really resonated with me and I think they might also resonate with a lot of people.
A must buy!

This is a beautiful book.
With lovely poems and statements that I could really resonate with. A wonderful book that is so emotive that some of these words will stay with me for a long time.

It has a wonderful collection of new and well established poets with varying length so an ideal read to duo in and out of.