Rituals

A beautiful collection of poems mostly about the darker aspects of the mind, with some witchcraft leanings.

I really enjoyed this! I love that the poems are very varied. Different lengths and styles while all being very cohesive. I like the dark subject matter and that the topics aren't what you'd expect. I also love the witchiness of it. I am drawn immediately to anything ritualistic so this obviously spoke to me. I love the title and cover art. Mostly I really love how different this is than most of what I read. I can't say I connected to every poem or even most, but I love that this isn't the run of the mill poetry collection.

*Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for advance access to this collection in exchange for an honest review.

«The window is a void in the wall / I cannot get to.»
Fortunately, he can reach our souls with a touch of delicate words frozen on ice, hot as fire, that take of all of our masks. Cuts deep into the scars, physical and metaphorical. I love the word "Rituals" and fits perfectly this set of poems, filled with fragments of very raw reality. Even if these poems are very subtle they contain a strong melancholic charge. And that's kind clever when the shape is perfect but the deep emotions pop out. Heads as balloons or the moon with it's "virginal purity". A sense of innocence that's so pleasurable to read. Not very common nowadays.

Via #netgalley

Wonderful poetry. I enjoyed the poems and they were beautiful. Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for providing the arc

I recently read Rituals by Lorcan Black and I was blown away by his writing. There is an ethereal undertone to all of the poems and it gives a magical effect to the entire narrative. The poet talks on various issues like innocence, religious supremacy, judgmental attitudes, forgiveness, of mental health and illness, suicide and self-harm, of being trapped inside one’s own mind, our changing personalities, war and its effects, gender roles, motherhood and parenthood as a whole, about the unknown, etc. Among all the poems, there is such a vast diversity in the themes that I believe each reader will take away something from reading them. There is a unique writing style and coupled with the unique lines, I think this is a beautiful collection – utterly profound and deep. I shall surely be returning to this one again.  And I recommend this one anyone – fans of Neruda, Trakl, Sylvia Plath, and Shirley Jackson definitely go for this one. 
I rate this one a 4.5/5 stars!

I received this book free from NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.  
Thanks NetGalley!

I'd say Rituals was a short, quick read.   The poetry was thought-provoking.    I enjoyed the majority of the book, although some poems just didn't hit the mark for me.

Rituals was a quick, short read. The poetry was very descriptive, although at times a little too flowy and confusing. Overall I enjoyed the book, and ended up thinking about it after I read it.

Rituals by Lorcán Black is an arrangement of vivid images and edgy, emotional writing that also grips the reader.  I have shared about it gladly on my blog, along with some other poetic titles.  Many thanks to the publisher for this digital advance copy.

“You the black shore I have broken away from,
madness a simple tithe.
Blackness forms my oars.”

RATING: 3.75/5

I received a free review copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for my honest feedback. Ever since I started college and began reading poetry extensively, I have always been on the lookout for great collections which leave an indelible mark. When I discovered this on NetGalley, I was immediately smitten by the synopsis and was eager to find out how it used illustrations in tandem with verse. The reading experience was certainly unique. I had loved the gorgeous cover and illustrations inside the book, abstract in nature, were equally well-done. They gelled particularly well with the poems, especially the ritualistic themes which echoed across the collection. While the subjects were diverse and varied, there was a constant undertone of melancholy, impending doom, a descent into madness, and esoteric obsession in every piece. 

They are quite dark and reach into the darkest deepest recesses of the human mind, the craft itself is quite remarkable. I could not imagine a better title. As is usually the case with my reception of free verse poetry, some pieces worked exceptionally well while some didn’t at all. One of the biggest drawbacks was that the poet rarely employs nuance in the execution of his vision which led to a marked lack of subtlety in a lot of the poems included here. My favourite pieces were - “Invocation of Ishtar”, “Magdalene Laundry”, “Asylum”, “Aleppo”, “How to Bake a Marital Desertion” and “Ghost in the Machine”. I would recommend this collection for anyone who is on the lookout for a unique set of poems which play with startling imagery.

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. One of the most beautiful books of poetry I have read in a long time. Faith, madness, reality, all combined. What is faith? What are we to believe? How do you show that faith? These poems are all about what you feel.
I enjoyed the artwork as well. Everything fit well into the atmosphere of the poetry. This book may be dark to some, but I personally love the dark.

This book was amazing! I love the poetic prose and the dark escapades of love, life and fears of every angle one could imagine. This book will forever hold a spot in my mind as what I see and learn of rituals of pain, fear, loss and especially love. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is looking for the kind of read that takes you on every twist and turn of imaginative feelings of metaphors.

This collection of poetry featured quite a lot of themes in it:mental health, being in mental institutions,feeling trapped in your own head, war,consequences of war,depression and many,many more. The author has such a unique style of writing, creating an atmospheric experience. All poems were dark,and as you read them you feel like you are drowning and with each poem you go down a little deeper. Don't think I will reread this one,but it will definitely stay with me for the rest of my life.

I loved everything about this book. I didn’t know what to expect and I am so glad this book found me. Beautifully written, dramatic prose, soulful pages of relevant and important topics. I felt lost occasionally but it was because I was stuck thinking about the previous sentence or two and had to go back and read it again because of the different ways of perceiving. Will recommend!