In this poetry and essay collection, the author courageously reveals hopes, tragedies, dreams, and disappointments in a free verse format. The style is heartfelt and deeply authentic, sometimes feeling like stream of consciousness or diary entries, other times feeling like the first words after a long silence and a deep breath.

I really wanted to like this collection, and I honestly think it's good. However, the writer continually alluded to passionate feelings of love and attraction, assuming that everyone is allosexual and amatonormative. I am not. If you want me to feel something, you need to describe it, not just tell me you're feeling it. I don't hate love poems, but I hate love poems that just say "I felt in love." There's nothing for my imagination to cling to. Topics like longing, womanhood, and growing up also don't fit very well into my brain, so it was hard to connect with the lack of word pictures in these poems.
Poems are meant to evoke feelings and build connection, but I was further distracted by the fact that there aren't any capital letters. Why aren't there any capital letters? I have nothing against experimental styles, but in this case, I found it distracting instead of a way to enhance the content.

There were certainly more than a few poems that resonated with me, and I hope this book finds its way into the hands of other folks who can more easily find connection and inspiration from these writings.

Thank you to NetGalley and Central Avenue publishing for this ARC. All opinions are my own.