Our Naked Souls

I loved the poem entitled, Night. It was one of my favorites in this collection. The pieces were short and to the point, eliminating a lot of flowery language for the most part, and you can understand the love and connection the speaker has with the woman he loves. My main comment would be the lack of variation of the layout of the pieces. Very limited punctuation was utilized, and every first letter of every line was capitalized; it made it seem like there should have been some kind of significance to the words being capitalized, but I think it was just a formatting choice. I recommend playing with capitalization and some punctuation in the layout. The pieces read a bit clipped and a bit too fast. The love the speaker is talking about seems like it is slow, like a sweet honey, but the pacing of the pieces don't really reflect that.

The poem, Drive With Me, felt like I was reading the same line twice; some of the titles were repetitive of the first line of the poem and I think the power is lost a bit when you repeat like that. This happened a few times, but this particular poem was such a powerful piece, that I wish the first line was the title, and we started the poem on the second line to really draw us into the setting.

Part 3&4 seemed completely different than 1 & 2, it didn't really fit the theme that the other two chapters had established, It felt a bit erratic, jumping from one topic to another. I'd almost like to see the chapters shortened, and some of the pieces pulled and collected together for a separate collection of poems. The current event based pieces were much more emotionally charged and I think detracted from the love poems in the first two parts. Some really wonderful pieces in here though.

A few of my favorite pieces included: Fluorescent Infinity, The Forest "this is where I keep my love for you," what an incredible line!, Blacksmith, Derelict Castles, Horcruxes, Your Favorite Place, Burns, Shadows Against Crimson,
The Roadblock to Utopia, Ape, and The Fourth Wall,

The art that accompanied these works was beautiful. I loved the black and white images throughout the collection.

This was a very beautiful compilation of stories. It was heart wrenching but completely relatable. The author did an amazing job at conveying a message and making you feel all the emotions.

this is a book of modern poetry about love, heartbreaks, depression, self-acceptance and more. the writing style is simple, so anyone who wants to read simple, short texts should be able to read it. the words are full of emotions and strong feelings from the author, i could feel that. and i can say that i related to some of the poems.

the book is divided into four chapters, each one having different kind of emotions and tones to it. personally, the third part was my favorite, in which i could experience the harsh, painful and poetical words of the author in a very personal way. and perhaps it’s because i am very drawn to strong feelings such as sadness and longing portrayed in books.

and yes, this is another modern poetry book that does fall into the range of this kind of books. i don’t think is much different than other modern poetry books, all of which speak about the same kind of emotions. nevertheless, i really think is a book worth reading if this is the kind of books you like or what you’re looking for.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley for the opportunity to read and review this book. Unfortunately, I do not have the capability to read it in the protected pdf format.

We could fly forever up there
And never come back down
Defying gravity forever
An eternal dance transcending time

If you’re as tired as I am of the post-modern, abstract and meaningless verses the market’s pumping with the speed of light everyday and hate trying to figure what those beautiful random words that mean nothing together mean, then you’re in the right place. I believe poems should be simple, tell much with few plain words and create countless emotions. I should not feel like solving an arithmetic problem. This amazing poem book contains good, old-fashioned love poems that I’ve been craving for many years. Yes, they’re cheesy sometimes, full of things that you already know, already have heard before but it never gets old. Love and relationships are complicated as ever but the blinding feeling of love, heartbeats, butterflies in stomach, the need to be with that person, the desire, the passion: they are always the same and should be cherished like this. The beauty of this poetry is that it doesn’t hit only one note, other common feelings and concepts like heartbreak, melancholy, depression, existentialism, death, triumph and success are majestically sprinkled between pages:

“Every time we try
To rekindle
This same old match
It only burna deeper
Into the fabric
Of who I am...”

I loved the connections the poet created between cosmos, universe and love. Stars align, planets collide, infinity and relativity is involved, gravity defied, space-time buckles and bends, chemicals clash and create love.

My absolute favorites: C.H.N.O.S,, Defying Gravity, Jamais Vu, Burn Matches, Love Does Not Subtract, Evolution vs. Man, Writer’s Block, To See the Stars:

“Stasis is comfortable.
It asks nothing of us.
But at some point
You have to ask yourself
If you’d rather
Stay comfortable
And never climb the mountain
To see the stars.”

And last but not least, the poem that came to my rescue at the darkest hour:

Triumph

We are not
A collection of failures
Because of the things
We did not win.

We are a collection of triumphs,
A middle finger raised high
Against the forces in life
That wanted to see us stay down.

We are triumphant
Because we kept fighting
Even when it seemed
Like all was lost.

With modern poetry, there is always a risk of sounding ‘pretentious’ according to many readers, however, this collection I predict will manage to avoid it with its articulated language and perfect portrayal of emotions. Divided into four chapters: Naked Souls, Broken Hearts, Weary Spirits and Cosmic Minds, this collection of poetry is more than a simple collection of written work. It’s a journey you take with the poet, filled with experiences and life lessons in which you start in love, but gently crash and then finishes in a whole different aspect of love: self-love and acceptance. A mixture of short, long, raw and soothing poetry, there is something in this collection that will speak to many, and many which I will personally cling onto too.

As the chapters shift, so does the language, conveying the actual feeling of abruptness in life. In particular, Chapter three was raw and crushing with its imagery and portrayal of mental health. The poems becoming bleaker as they go, with only some of them letting a form of light to shine through are very similar to the fight in which comes with mental health where there is a willingness to fight, but also the strong draw to giving in.

Strikingly beautiful. I loved the love story told through verse in this title. The black and white drawings were deceptively simple and poignant. The progression of the story inside was wonderful. I can't wait to add it to my collection.

When I started reading this book I felt as if I could not connect to the poetry. It felt to syrupy sweet to me.. I'm not that romantic of a person so I guess it makes sense that the first section of the anthology would not appeal to me. Regardless I kept reading and I am so happy that I did! I feel like the strength of the anthology lies in the last three segments, Broken Hearts, Weary Spirits and Cosmic Minds. IN broken hearts I kept thinking to myself yes, yes! I recognize that, I've felt that, I have been through that. How well Justin translated the deep pain of love lost into heart achingly beautiful prose. In the third section I also felt a deep connection to the poetry as someone who has and does suffer with anxiety and depression. The poetry here feels very personal and it was cathartic for me to read in a way. It made me feel less alone in my anxiety. Reading Justin's poetry in this section made me feel seen. If the author is reading this, thank you. The final section Cosmic Minds was my favorite section overall. I found myself bookmarking poem after poem. I especially loved More (YES! I FEEL THIS ALL THE TIME) and The Fourth Wall (it really did feel like I held a snapshot of the authors soul throughout the entire reading experience). I made a list of my favorite poems from the book, which was actually a challenge because I loved and felt a deep connection to so many. My favorites were as follows: The forest, Erosion, First Draft, Unuttered Words, Anxiety, Not in This Life, Chance, Projection, Nostalgia, Rain, The Purpose of Poetry, Shadow, More, The Fourth Wall and Wild Blood. Overall I really loved this collection of poems They felt very real and honest to me which I appreciated. I feel like the author really did share a piece of his soul with me. Also the illustrations were fantastic! I would love to hang pretty much every single one of them up on my walls. They were unique and stunning!

3.5 stars

I really liked the voice of the poet. The lines were beautiful and I was thoroughly moved.
The illustrations were intricate and yet aesthetically minimalistic.

The poet also covers a wide range of topics:
1. home being a person versus a place.
2. love as not the end but an ongoing journey.
3. learning to open oneself up to love again despite past experiences.
4. loves that sadly, do not last, despite what the two parties wish for.
5. relating to the nature of lost loves.
6. of lovers that keep coming back to each other, etc.

Although the poems are mostly about love, they diversify towards the end and cover themes of social topics, mental health, and personal fears, etc. There is also fantastic imagery.
I rated it 3.5 stars!

Beautiful and packed words from a masterful poet. I would gladly recommend this book for lovers of verse.

I loved Justin Wench's first collection and have been looking forward to reading this one. The first two sections were my favorite. Absolutely beautiful pieces that resonated with me on various levels. I also really enjoyed the pieces in section 3. But section 4 felt a little out of place in the collection, though still worth reading. Overall, I really liked this one and can't wait to share it.

Thank you to NetGalley and Andrew McMeel for the advanced copy.

Unfortunately when it comes to poetry I feel that it is never easy to please the reader completely. The few times I have tried to write a poem myself I have failed roundly. This is poetry, complicated, whether to write or even to interpret. I admire the poets immensely, who in their veins run poetry and the talent to transmit a thousand emotions with brief words. If with a book of fiction we can write everything in detail, in poetry I feel that we have to look for the right word to describe what we feel at the right moment.

"Our Naked Souls" captivated me right from the first poems, I found myself identifying with the poems and even saving a lot of them to re-read and reflect on later. The synopsis suggested that they would be poems more related to love and relationships, which is the only reason I felt like reading them.

What I liked the poems the most was the poetic and sentimental form with which the author manages to talk indirectly to the reader. It's that kind of poem that warms your soul while you're reading. Certain poems seemed to have been written by me, or the writer was reading my mind. In the end it turns out to be one of those books that anyone can easily identify with or relate to.

One of the negative points, and most probably the only one, was that many of the poems, although we know beforehand that the main theme was love, turn out to be a bit of a cliché. I say this because I have read some poetry books on this subject, many of them very recent. And what makes me feel the most is that in the end they all look the same. There's so much to talk about love, I felt I should have improved a little, try to explore other aspects of love, without being cliché.

However, the poems turn out to be easy and light reading. From those books we want to spend hours enjoying the reading, land and pick up again to warm the heart. For me, this is not one of those books that can be read at once, it is necessary to read and reflect. I was really surprised with the writing, I was not expecting such captivating writing at all. No doubt I intend to read more of the author's works, he managed to win my heart in a magical way.

Poems about depression, heart break, self reflection, and love. I thought this was relatable and I enjoyed it. Thank you netgalley and the publisher!

I have really been loving poetry lately and this collection sucked me in completely. I love the fact that this collection walked me through different phases of life and love and allowed me to reflect on my past and current experiences while reading. There were so many poems that I took screenshots of while reading so that I could re-read them again and again (far too many to squeeze into this review). This will definitely be a book that I need a physical copy of in my collection to refer back to when I just need something fantastic to sink into!

I thought this was a pretty strong poetry read. Many of the poems are emotion-evoking and the imagery is solid, but not all of the poems had that impact. I like the different sections of the poetry, I found the poems about love the most powerful. The two poems that come to mind the most is Lying in Bed and Drive with Me! I really liked those two. The illustrations are killer! The fact that they take up a lot of the page without disturbing the poems is spectacular.

Thanks to Andrews McMeel Publishing for making this book available to me via #Netgalley.
I have fallen into the world of poetry and this book is a great addition to the list of poetry books I have read this year. This book follows the journey of a lover who seems to understand the importance and inevitability of finding and losing love as he struggles through social, mental, physical restrictions. There is the exposure of man's inner workings and how vulnerable we as people are.
There are so many poems that I have come to love in this book, poems like "Clovers" that expresses the importance of finding love through hope, "Love is like magic" which expresses the requirement of love and how giving yourself fully into love increases the possibility of it lasting longer
"Love demands unshakable faith;
The more you believe in it
Without hesitation or vacillation
The more love transcends possibility"
Then there are poems like "The Tree of Life" that expresses the fragility of love and how it needs to be cultivated. I think one of my favorite poems has to be "Act II", here 'love like a fairytale' is exposed and one is reminded that Falling in love isn't the end of the story, it is just the middle and the tribulations come after and you have to work hard to maintain your love. Love is not immune to anything, it can crumble and fall if not cultivated with care and dedication.

Then there is also "Captive"
"I am a prisoner of your memory, A captive of possibility" when love is lost all that is left is memories you become a slave for all the things that you could have done differently.
There are so many poems that I could just chant over and over again because they are just so lovely and hard-hitting and a few I really loved include
"Art becomes complete"
"Selfish"
"These Words"
I hope you check this book.