I have this a 2/5 starts. I didn’t really care for any of these poems. None of them stuck out to me or made me feel much. I liked how they wrote about different things, I didn’t dislike them but I didn’t totally like them either. I just found them to be okay. Thank you to net galley for this earc.

If you are looking for a collection of poetry by young writers, this is a great collection. While most pieces feel unpolished and at times cliche, there are some stand out poems that amaze. Dividing the poems into sections based on the style was a well done and thought-out structure for something that otherwise would have been overwhelming and structure-less. I would have loved to have had this book in my classroom when I was teaching English. My students would have surely benefited from it.

Each poem in this collection was powerful and meaningful. Some better than others but that’s always going to be in poetry books. Which is why I think I’m giving it 3 stars. Though I will say that these writers are very talented

A collection of poetry written by young people to showcase their talents. I am always on the look out for more poetry to read, I love it and so this collection was a perfect recommendation. While there are some gems in this collection, unfortunately, I felt like it wasn't for me. Some felt more like prose and others, I struggled with the flow. I think some may really enjoy this but it just wasn't for me!

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for this copy in exchange for an honest review.

Leave This Song Behind: Teen Poetry at Its Best certainly lives up to its name. There is no shortage of talent here and much skill to be admired.

The teens show their ability to poignantly, humorously, or anything in between, evoke the pictures in your mind, the feelings, and the emotions they are describing or documenting. Some of these poems are quite raw, some quiet, some painful, some joyful. There is something for everyone here because poetry is, and is supposed to represent, life.

The book is divided into sections Come to Your Senses; Less is More; Get into Shape; Let Me Tell You a Story; Shall I Compare Thee to...?; I Wasn't Expecting That; and Love, Life, Death (and other overwritten themes). However, whatever the section, talent abounds.

These wise, communicative youth, fuel my hope and belief that poetry will never die out as long as someone is willing to put pen to paper and tell their unique truth in verse.

Kudos to all of them, and many thanks to NetGalley and HCI Books for allowing me to read an e-copy of this book. My review is strictly my own, unbiased reaction to this book.

This collection of Teen Poetry by Teen Ink magazine really runs the gamut. It's organized stylistically. None of the poems are terribly long, but most have something to sink your teeth into. Not every poem is amazing, but even the iffier ones tend to have the moment of clarity when something comes into focus using unexpected words in juxtaposition. This is what really good poetry does (in my opinion), and is much harder to define than to demonstrate.

There were many poems in this book where I said something out loud in response to a silently-read poem. There is power here. Not a lot of control, yet -- but no shortage of power.

Recommended.

Leave this Song Behind is a collection of poems written by teenagers.

When I was younger, I consider myself more of a poet than a novelist. I don't know what happened why i lost my passion and so I was so excited to read this collection of poems. I read all of them in one sitting. Then I felt like something is wrong, I couldn't figure it out that I couldn't even write a review. So I reread it again because I just so love reading poems. :) This time though, I read them differently. A poem a day. Or a poem each sitting. It's a technique I usually use in reading collection of short stories and essays. Poems, not normally because they are shorter.

Anyway, I figured out what's wrong. Individually, the poems are amazing. Some will touched my heart and some blew my mind. And I didn't even think in a moment that they were written by teenagers. I got lost in some of the poems because of how beautifully written and constructed they are. Some even are eye-openers.

But here's the thing, together, the poems lost a little of their appeal. Because not all of them connect with each other. some are deep, some aren't. It's as if some of the poems were just thrown in there. So I suggest reading the each poem as an individual art not as part of a collection.

She

She sometimes makes me want to tense the tendors on my neck and send my head smashing into my keyboard and maybe my skin and bones would, as they snapped and fractired, hit just the right keys and type a jumbed ode to beauty and wealth, forgotten forever when the circuits spark and smoke and the little copper nodes on the hard drive dig into my eyebrow and its brittle white pastic shell snaps and splinters.

Charles S. Siler

I kept going back to this particular piece of the book for maybe three days in a row....

The case with poetry is often that it's not understandable. I don' mean the language barrier I am standing if front of sometimes, but the emotional one.
I've read so much classic poetry that never really spoke to me. Leave this song behind, despite the fact it was written by teens, somehow was my type of poetry. It kind of caught me off guard, I didn't expect to read pieces about God, for example:
"I do't think I feel a God inside me. I feel uncertainty, and blood, and bones."
Do we stop questioning God once we grow older?....

This little gem of a book is the type of poerty, or modern writing I want to show my students in my attempts to inspire them to be themselves more often, or make them see they are understood. Even when they 're angry, unsure or confused.

As an attempt of a conclusion I'd like to share my other favorite piece from the book :

Food and Wine

you're burnt onto the bottom of everything I know,
like a bone , or a bad joke,
I choke you out whole, of course and wipe the blood from my mouth
pick you out of my teeth and stare emotionless and the black mess
at the bottom of the pan, take a drink from the bottle in my hand only to discover your spiits
burning the back of my throat, fermented years ago and just now opened
and it's too late
you've already intoxicated me
again, I can feel the world slowly falling away ;
fork falls to table,
glass falls to floor
in a crash splatter tinkle carpet stain and the
rest of you takes root
impossible to remove
as my poisoned frame lands
on the rug we bought together
last spring.

First of all, thanks to NetGalley and TeenInk for giving me a chance to read and review this book!

Leave This Song Behind is a collection of absolutely beautiful and meaningful poems!

The fact that all of the poems are written by teenagers only adds to its charms.

I enjoyed all of the poems. They were deep, meaningful and absolutely beautiful.

Though I did enjoy them all, some of them became my favorites. 'Year Of The Dragon by Miriam Himelstein', 'A Letter to the Past, Present and Future Selves by Sofia Wesley', were some of my favorites while 'The Sistine Closet by Hannah Livernois' was my absolute favorite!

Though at times I spotted some punctuation mistakes and the page formatting was a bit confusing, the poems were absolutely beautiful and I loved them all!

*2.5/5 stars
This was interesting and quick to read. Every poem is lyrical and have beautiful description, and every poem is written by someone else. I do feel like I would have enjoyed it more in a different format or if the ebook I read, was more organized like a paperback. I couldn’t always figure out if a sentence was supposed to be on a certain line or if it wasn’t.

These kids are so talented!

I'm afraid I didn't enjoy this collection. It promised much but gave little and i'm afraid it wasn't for me.

I find that with any collection of anything, stories, essays or poetry, you'll always run into what I found with this book. You like some pieces way better than others, which obviously has an effect on the book as a whole.
So, while there were some poems that I really enjoyed, the flow of the book was a little interrupted because sometimes I found myself zoning out and having to reread passages.
However, I did like most of the poems in the collection, so overall it was a good read.

Leave This Song Behind is a collection of poems that depicts different life situations teens experiences: such as depression, problems with parents, sexuality and love issues, to name a few. Teen poetry but a young adult, such as I, still can relate to some of the poems in this book.

Several of these poems that I associate myself into are: Write What You Know by Mandy Seiner; Charcoal Boat by Callie Zimmerman; A Letter to the Past, Present, and Future Selves by Sofia Wesley; and Chinese Politics (over dim sum) - Eda Tse. There are other poems that are quite remarkable, e.g., Don't Fall In Love by Claire Podges; The Sistine Closet by Hannah Livernois; and A Letter to the Past, Present, and Future Selves by Sofia Wesley.

The selection of poems in this outstanding book will leave readers ponder whether they have experienced the same situation or currently in that state, which was described in each poem. If you are into poetry, having a copy of this impressive book should not be missed.

Poetry is a powerful way to share, and these poems leap from the page to embrace the lost, the yearning, the hopeful, and - not least - those ready to express their own truth by writing poems. Top pick for "back to school" season.

LEAVE THIS SONG BEHIND brings together diverse teen poets. Poems speak to the heart of life experiences including: love, death, friendship, coming out, yearning, life, identity, war/peace, healing, suicide, and hope. Essential for every library and high school, because poetry offers a lifeline to contemporary teens struggling with life's desperate moments. Thanks to Teen Ink for honoring the young poets featured in this anthology.

My one wish is that Teen Ink would include some poems in translation to inspire those who are learning English. And a list of online resources to connect with teens no matter where they live.

Leave This Song Behind, edited by John Meyer, Stephanie Meyer, Adam Halwitz & Cindy Spertner, is a poetry collection comprised of the best Teen Ink poems written in the last five years. Teen Ink is a monthly poetry magazine which accepts submissions from young writers age 13-19 years old. Teen Ink also has a thriving web community (www.teenink.com) with writer's forums, workshops, contests and guides to summer & college programs.

Even before reading this collection of poems, I was applauding Teen Ink for supporting poetry and artistic expression for teenagers. It is through poetry that I began exploring the world around me as a teen, and arguably that is why poetry is still my first love as both a reader and writer today. To have the support of not only teachers, but others in our literary communities is crucial. Today, resources like Teen Ink are paving the way for new writers to explore writing in a myriad of ways.

The poetry in Leave This Song Behind is as varied as our cultural and musical histories, informed by the young writer's plethora of life experiences in their short years. The collection is broken into sections based on different writing style or themes. Some are more sensory in nature than others, some pieces contain spare yet moving language, others make surprising connections - while still others tackle everyday subjects or objects in fresh ways. What all of the poems have in droves is emotion, and because they are written from the perspectives of teenagers, I wasn't surprised. What other time of life is so filled with change and uncertainty, with both joy & sadness - fear & anticipation often felt in the same breath? Poetry is fueled by those who give voice to powerful emotions and life experiences, and so it is that teens can astonish us with how they craft words. And though their words may, in some cases, feel raw and un-revised - this is also, I think, at the heart of what contemporary poetry is today. It is rough around the edges, it is newly formed, and it is very diverse.

And perhaps that is the best reason to pick up this poetry collection. To read the writing of young people who took a risk and made their voices heard, adding their words to a rising cacophony of diverse voices around the world. Through the noise, if we listen, we can hear beautiful music that deserves to be played, along with rhyme, meter and metaphor that dance from the pages to form our hearts. Those hearts are filled with the poetry of our interconnected lives. And that is a beautiful thing.

Another poetry book I finished last week this time a collection of entries submitted by teenagers to Teen Ink. Some of the best were chosen and put together to create this book.

I admit that I found this one different from the other poetry books I’ve read but this is as lovely just the same. Sometimes I forgot that teenagers actually wrote these poems and while I liked some, the others just didn’t make sense to me which I think was okay. It’s divided into sections, each with style and impact of its own.

I can’t say that I loved this one since there where times when I skipped pages especially when I can’t connect with the words. Don’t get me wrong, there are some which I really liked but I think the book as a whole isn’t just for me.

“Don't fall in love with a girl who reads because she'll fall in love with last chapters and final words and the ending will always be her favourite part.”

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an ARC of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Leave This Song Behind is a carefully curated collection of some of Teen Ink's best poetry submissions over the years. The submissions are categorized under common themes, senses, and emotions, but there is still a variety of voices and tones in each category. While the variety was nice, it does come across as a little bit choppy if you're the type of person who likes to read through an entire book in one sitting. Regardless, I really love how each section has so much to offer.

Some of these poems were so poignant and full of experience that I kept forgetting they were written by teenagers. But I shouldn't be surprised. Adolescent voices have always been strong, just never listened to. I can't help but wonder if my poetry was this good when I was 17-years-old. Probably not.

There were several submissions that stood out to me, but my favourites were The Sistine Closet by Moria Crowley, and Don't Fall in Love by Beatrice Waterhouse.

Here are a few lines from The Sistine Closet that really hit me:

Dear Michelangelo,
When I can't sleep at night I wonder where you are now.
I wonder if heaven exists.
I wonder if God was waiting for you at the gates,
If he looked at you and said
"Don't listen to them. Of course you can come in. Of course you can come out now."
Michelangelo, tell me there are no closets in heaven.
Tell me I will be allowed to walk down the street
Holding her hand.

All in all, this is a wonderful collection of teen poetry. I wish I could have read something like this when I was younger, so I could have known that others my age felt as strongly as I did.

This is a poetry collection that puts together some of the best poems Teen Ink has had over some years. It's divided according to the different types of narrative, and it's really interesting to read.

Some of this poems are written with such complexity I had some trouble remembering teenagers wrote them. I was captured by their writing and stories and so grateful to be able to read such confessions.

That being said, the actual reading felt a bit awkward. The way the poems are separated results in reading poems that while similar in form cover totally different topics and subjects. This had me reading about break ups on pair or everyday objects and really simple things.
Separately this poems are incredible but together they blur in a big mess.

This isn't necessarily bad, because you could buy it and read a poem each time you had a bit of down time or while on the bus or car. But for people like me that enjoy reading the entire book in one or two sittings this felt a bit too forced.

I can't say I loved the book because I was incredibly uncomfortable with the topic changing, but I definitely loved the poems and will continue to re-read them one at the time to enjoy them separately.

I enjoyed reading the poems within this book, it highlights the often overlooked talents of teens. The carefully selected words used in each of the poems helps to convey the poets chosen message for the poem. I liked that they were arranged into chapters according to what each poem was about, so you could dip in and out of different topics easily.