Songs with Our Eyes Closed

I received this book for an honest review. I really enjoyed reading the poems in this book.. I feel like the author went into very good detail to describe the different emotions. Some of these verses were so tru to how I have felt sometimes. I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend it for those readers that enjoy poetry.

4.5 Stars

There were a few of those instagram one sentence breakdowns that I’m not a fan of, but on a whole, this collection is heartfelt, emotional, and strong. (And honestly the one liners didn’t bother me here as there were only a few and nicely dispersed.)

At times, he reminds me of a more romantic, younger Billy Collins (as a huge fan of Collins, this is definitely a compliment). Where Collins takes a place or object and creates an introspective poem, White does this with a person or a feeling.

He writes about finding yourself, being yourself, accepting yourself. He writes of a love, loss, and a spectrum of emotions that come to life with his words.

Of all of the new poets I’ve read this year, White may be my favorite.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this poetry collection.

A lovely collection of poetry. The feelings of love and lose was beautifully portrayed.

I recieved a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

This poetry book is full of heart and emotion. My words couldn't possibly do the author justice. I definitely know a few people this would make a great gift for.

My favorite two parts:
You are a
symphony
of stardust
and you were
born to shine.
:::::::::::::::::::::::
When you doubt
The brilliance of your shine
I will take you
Through my darkness
I will show you where
You shine the brightest.

Songs with Our Eyes Closed is a poetry and prose collection about love, loss, depression and resilience. These poems and prose were inspired by his own childhood, his relationship with his dad and his past relationships.


no amount of darkness
can drown out our light
if our light
has been lit within


Songs with Our Eyes Closed is divided into 8 parts:
a song for every season
the intricacies of odd numbers
on nights you do not remember how to sing
why we’ve come to break unevenly
a song for those lost at sea
the ways we fall asleep
songs my daughter would have sung
in your attic, under the stars

My favourite parts are: a song for every season; on nights you do not remember how to sing; the ways we fall asleep; in your attic, under the stars


just hold on –

even the most
violent storms
eventually die

even the
dimmest lights
have a chance
to shine



I really liked this poetry and prose collection. You get to know so much more about the author and that’s definitely one of the things I love the most about this collection. The only negative point about this collection is that there were no titles, just themes. It was kind of hard to figure out when the poem ended and the next poem started.


we live in fear
of silence
because it is filled
with the echoes
of all the things
we left unsaid


Overall I really liked this collection written by Tyler Kent White. I cannot wait to read more of his work!

This is a deeply moving, emotional and heartfelt collection of poems. I enjoyed reading through all of them and being drawn in by the powerful way the author wrote each line.
Truly a wonderful collection.

I was only reading this one in one sitting, and literally I loved it pretty much. This is just another a compilation of poems book that told you about what happens to our daily lives.

I like that the author plays with style, form, and diction. There were some good literary devices sprinkled throughout (imagery, figuartive language, etc.) Sometimes the more distinct language felt repetitive, though (like vetiver and petrichor). I was disappointed to see that a few of the pieces felt like they piggy-backed off of the current social movement in poetry of pop poetry and she poetry. For the most part, however, the pieces were composed with thought and depth. The author's voice felt authentic; I did not feel like this work was compiled with the intention of reaching any specific target audience (as I have felt with most of the other poetry books I have read recently). I'm not a fan of the uncapitalized and unpunctuated style that is popular for many poets right now, though that really is just a personal preference. Some of the topics throughout the collection felt somewhat overdone and repetitive in comparison to much of the poetry I have read recently (i.e. loving the wrong person, getting over heartbreak, self-affirmation, etc.), though many of the pieces felt real for the author which is much more important to me. Overall, I liked it.

I’m a fan of poetry, so I decided to make it my goal to read more this year. That means delving into the plethora of contemporary poetry collections often written in the same style as Rupi Kaur. While I’m not always a fan of this style, I decided to give "Songs With Our Eyes Closed a chance".

What struck me immediately about this collection is that many of the poems do in fact rhyme. A lot of contemporary poems these days don’t rhyme at all, so I greatly enjoyed that these ones did. Even the ones that didn’t really rhyme flowed really well and that made them easy to read. For those who can’t commit to intense, traditional poetry, this will be a good option.

Some of the imagery within the poems didn’t speak to me; there a lot of mentions of teeth, for example. But the images that he carried throughout like stars and nature did work well. It also helped connect the poems.

The most important thing about poetry, in my opinion, is whether it affects the reader. Some of the poems really spoke to me, especially the ones about love, and some of the ones about grief and depression. The imagery and language he used I felt expressed things in a very universal way. I also enjoyed his uplifting poems about having courage and being kind to and believing in yourself. A lot of my favourite poems were within the first sections of the book.

"Songs With Our Eyes Closed" is a really quick read because many of the poems are short. Some of the poems and some of the imagery I didn’t like, but a lot of the poems I did like. They mostly flowed well, and quite a few actually rhymed. I enjoyed reading this overall.

This poetry collection was very emotional and heartfelt. I found many if them very moving. I only wish I could write this way!

* I will put reviews up on Amazon and Barnes and Noble once it releases.

This collection evoked so many emotions within me. I laughed, I cried and I smiled until my cheeks hurt. The poems are pretty short but my goodness do they manage to make you feel an awful lot with such few words. The collection is beautifully written and it felt so honest, like he had shared the most intimate parts of himself with the reader. As with Songs with Our Eyes Closed, I read this one in one sitting. Upon getting to the end, I found myself wanting so much more. I will definitely be reading more by Beau Taplin in the future.

What I love in this anthology of Tyler Kent White are the motivational poems that uplifts one's self. There are poems also about love and loss, but those inspirational poems are, I consider, quite remarkable. I can give this as a present to friends because I know that they will appreciate these poems. This collection is written in a plain and comprehensive form that makes it a good recommendation for light reading.

A lovely collection of poems showcasing a range of emotions.

Tyler Kent White is now a new favorite poet because of Songs with Our Eyes Closed. There's so, so many lines I bookmarked in this book, that I just need to have. The way he's written some of these poems were just beautiful. Two of my favorite lines from this ARC was "you are a symphony of stardust and you were born to shine" and "the stars folded into the moon". This book is filled with so many, many amazing lines just like these.
Songs with Our Eyes Closed is mixed with short and long poems & a mix of different topics.
White's poetry styles are simply breathtaking.

I found this poetry collection to be beautiful and extremely well written. Songs With Our Eyes Closed is another example of a recently very popular style of writing—short but impactful poetry and prose. This is a format where a positive outcome is hard to accomplish, and it is definitely not a format that suites the tastes of all readers nor the abilities and voices of all poets. And it’s very true that this type of writing can easily come across as shallow, random, and repetitive. However, I find that this can also be an incredibly powerful and meaningful way to convey many emotions—that was definitely the case for this particular collection.

White’s writing is full of both beauty and sincerity. Even the shortest poems always feel that they were given an equal amount of time. effort, and detail, and did not lack the emotional depth and maturity of longer poems. He shows a great deal of candor as well as creativity, mixing human emotions with vivid and artistic imagery taken from our world and the universe we live in.

White packs this collection with plenty of affirmations, calling us to look at ourselves in a different and more loving way. The language and topics themselves are easily accessible for anyone, whether they are poetry lovers or not—it could also serve as a fantastic introduction into the world of poetry for a first time reader.

As always, poetry is hard to review as it is such a personal experience, and what I took away from this collection is not what everyone is going to take away. However, this is a very well-written work that skillfully captures truly human emotions that each and every one of us has felt or will feel at some point in our lives, ranging from the joy of love to the pain of loss. His words really spoke to me and related so well to where I am in my life and what I have been feeling, whether those words were reflecting my emotions or pushing me into a more positive mindset.

It is very touching and brimming with honesty and earnestness—never feeling rushed or lacking complexity, even in the most straightforward phrases. White has a very lyrical style that flows effortlessly from line to line and is very pleasant to read. I would highly recommend giving this collection a try.

I found I devoured this poetry book. This is not a poet I was familiar with, yet I found I was impressed, and I am interested in reading new compilations that he publishes.

It has some precious pieces to read again and again. But it is not a bunch of poetry that can be noted to have a wow factor.

Nevertheless, it does have some insight speech of our heart, unspoken.

I really enjoyed this book. The prose is very capturing and the way the writer wove feelings into his words made it simply impossible to overlook♥