Ford Turrell's debut collection, "Will We Still Be Here Tomorrow?" is a thought-provoking exploration of life's complexities, offering readers a blend of introspection and universal truths. Through a series of poems and meditations, Turrell invites us to examine our relationship with time, love, and the human experience. Turrell's voice provides moments of clarity and insight that linger long after the book is closed.

The collection shines for me in its shorter, nature-focused pieces. Turrell demonstrates a keen ability to capture fleeting moments and emotions in concise, impactful verses. The poem "Rest Here" exemplifies this strength:

Desperately trying,
but what could you possibly lack?
When they get tired,
the bumblebees sleep in the sunflowers.

Thank you NetGalley, for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

While a few of these poems hit home and linger in my mind, as a whole this was not my favorite book of poetry.
They all seemed very well written, but most of them simply went right over my head.
All in all, I did enjoy the time spent reading these poems and would likely read more by Ford Turrell

Thank you NetGalley and Sunrise Press for the ARC in exchange for an honest review!

This was a lovely collection of poems. Some, I resonated with more than others, but they were all well written. The ones that talk about school shootings were very strong, but my personal favourite was “Catching Up” — it literally brought tears to my eyes!

These poems are easy to read and I think a lot of people will find themselves somewhere on these pages.

Such a beautiful collection of poetry. I really liked how each poem had a different subject, but all blended together in a nice way. Very well written

“Will there be a tomorrow” is a fresh and conforming message of humanity and warm life, filled with distinct and poignant mantras and thoughts to carry through. It’s a snappy read that is available to all skill types but however at times becomes repetitive and lacks depth.

why go to therapy when you can read a poetry book and call it a day

(this again is probably not a helpful review. but if you're into poetry books then i suggest trying this book out? see if the shoe fits and all that???)

poetry to me is like words that moves your soul, if the words don't move you then what does it stand for????

Read this ages ago and I honestly don’t remember it at all. Not very good or memorable at all. Also probably should’ve looked at the tags more closely, religion poetry is really not for me.

5⭐ Thank you NetGalley for an arc of "Will We Still Be Here Tomorrow?" I thoroughly enjoyed the poems and wouldn't have minded the book being a bit longer.

i enjoyed this collection of poetry— mostly poems of hope and encouragement as we live our lives. to remember that it is precious and we should be grateful for every single day.

This is a lovely, thought-provoking and inspiring book of poems that I very much enjoyed reading. The poems are about relationships, life and the landscape. Really good.

Lovely poems. I found the ones about parenthood particularly relatable. I was not familiar with this author but I would read more of his work.

'Will We Still Be Here Tomorrow' is a collection of poems and meditations by Ford Turrell. This book is aimed at children between the ages of 12 and 18. At 86 pages, this is a fairly short collection of poems.

As I read through the poems and meditations, I highlighted the titles of those I especially liked. Here is a list of those I highlighted:

Stardust

Resolutions

Rainy Seasons

What If...

Blue Sky

Your Own Mind

Lab

As It Should

Ancestors

Rituals

Catching Up

Light Years

You Have No Flaws

Bigger Boat

Til Your Ship Comes In

Death Weather

Be-longing

Symphony of Tears

Models

Tell the Truth

Keep Pulling

The poem that I've chosen to share is 'Til Your Ship Comes In' because I believe we can all relate to it.

Til Your Ship Comes In

While you were waiting

for your ship to come in,

for your dear (blank) to come along,

for more money,

for a bigger, better (blank),

for your pain to subside,

for your depression to ebb,

your resentments to weaken,

and your karma to catch up:

the dishes and laundry have piled up,

the garden soil has been depleted,

the dog has gotten old,

your friends have moved away,

your children have grown and left home,

your eyes have drooped,

your skin has wrinkled,

your hair has greyed.

Yet, here you stand —

your hill to die on

nothing but a dream lurking elusively

beyond the horizon.

And while you've been lost in

watching for even the slightest flicker of

motion,

your real life, this ordinary life filled with

ordinary moments of

joy, and sadness, and fear, and pain, and

laughter, and love

has sailed right by.

This is a book I would recommend.

While I do not read poetry very often, I appreciate the occasional mind-bending poem. Ford Turrell's debut collection featured a wide variety of topics.

Admittedly, I did not find the majority of poems personally relatable, but a few stood out:
1. Rainy Season, an impactful reminder to seek hope within oneself;
2. What If... and Lab imagined a reality where self-constraint does not define the central theme of our being - a daring concept;
3. Just You Yourself, which deserves to be shouted from the rooftops - what else is there, really?

A thought-provoking and pleasant read, the book served as a solid reminder of mindfulness, remaining in the present moment, and appreciating life as is.

Some beautiful thought-provoking poetry. There were a few poems that didn't resonate but many that made me sit for a moment and really think about what it means to be alive.

It would work for urban poetry workshops. It has its parts, but I feel it lacks passion (I'm no poetry expert so I'd take any haters looming over me).

Great for relaxing after work or while you grab some lunch during break shifts. It could do with illustrations for how it tells you each word.

The poems are light, thoughtful. I feel that many people will be able to enjoy the book, it is an easy read, relatable. At the same time, I feel like this book gets a no from me because there wasn't a poem I wanted to read twice, because it was really amazing, or because it really amazed me.

Ford Turrell did a great job with writing poems that make the reader feel connected to what was being said. Some of his poems really resonated with me, especially the ones about anxiety and mass shootings. One of the quotes about anxiety that I enjoyed was: “What if you let go of the struggle to control and manipulate each moment of your life in an attempt to stave off your anxiety?” I struggle with anxiety every day, especially with things that I don't have control over, but i desperately want to. Having to let go of that control is hard, but I know it will help me in the end by trying to be more present instead of worrying over the future. Some of the other poems that were centered around mass shootings also spoke to me. I grew up in the generation of school shootings and having to do drills. I even grew up a town over from a well-known school shooting where I feared for my own life since we weren't sure what schools were going to be targeted. The communities surrounding the school shooting felt this occurrence for many years after, we're still feeling it every time the anniversary comes around. Turrell did a great job with talking about the feelings following a mass shooting. Overall, I would recommend this collection of poems.

Seriously, who needs therapy when you can just read poetry? I really enjoyed this short collection. It touched on so many topics that we encounter every day, it felt like I was reading the author's diary.

2.5 stars

This feels like a bit of a half arsed job (sorry). A few of the poems were lovely but the rest didn’t roll off the tongue very easily. The poems ‘Ancestors’ and ‘Every Day is a Good Day’ with their repetition felt a tad jarring and to be honest I have written shopping lists with more emotion.
And then there were a few ‘poems’ with just one line, which were really unnecessary, a bit boring, hollow.

This had some thought-provoking and beautiful poems. The writing was elegant and swirled together perfectly, strong in everything the author was telling us.