The Tarot Cycle: Poems for the Apocalypse

Thank you to Elektra Flowers, BooksGoSocial, and Netgalley for a free copy of "The Tarot Cycle: Poems for the Apocalypse" for an honest review.

I cannot resist poetry or tarot things, which made this on a mad dash necessity the second I saw it. I loved every single page of this small poetry book. I felt the author did such a good job writing each of the poems for each of the Major Arcana and I found myself highlighting/underlining so much all throughout it. I absolutely want a copy of this for my shelves and I know many friends who will, too!

This is a short, easy-to-read collection of poems. It is likely a better fit for someone who is familiar with tarot, the cards themselves, and the symbolism. However, I definitely enjoyed searching for images of the cards to view while reading each individual poem; it was helpful to follow some of the imagery the author used.

🌅 #BookReview - The Tarot Cycle 🌅

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Thank you so much to Elektra Flowers and @netgalley for sending me a copy of "The Tarot Cycle: Poems for the Apocalypse" in exchange for an honest review. I am currently going through such a love for poetry so I couldn’t resist this collection, with links to spirituality!!! 🌚

I loved every single line in this poetry book. It is a small one but it packs a punch and I feel like the author did SUCH a fab job – I read it before bed the other night and completely devoured it in one sitting. ❤

I 100% want a copy of this for my shelves and I know a few of my pals would love it, too! Does this sound like your vibe? 😘

Thank you so much to Netgalley and the author Elektra Flowers for early access to this poetry collection.

What a lovely collection. I think anyone who practices tarot will like the structure and imagery of this poetry. The poems are given the titles of major arcana cards and has a rhythm and tonality of an actual reading. I found it to be soothing and interesting, and I really enjoyed the lines that popped up multiple times in different poems, adding to the intimate and personal nature of the collection. Some standouts for me where "The High Priestess", "The Devil" and "The Star". But, if you're wondering if you can enjoy the collection if you are not familiar with tarot... absolutely. I didn't find them to be too abstract or removed from human experience. While they do have a "mystical" quality they are often grounded in a sentiment that you can recognize as very real life.

While not every poem was perfect for me, and while the style was not the one I normally gravitate towards I did truly enjoy this collection and the vulnerability shared by the author.

In The Tarot Cycle, Flowers provides us with a short collection of poems organized and themed after the Major Arcana in a standard tarot deck. The organization is excellent, the poems do somewhat tie together, and the theming is done fairly well.

A handful of the poems could have used some workshopping to tighten things up or move a few things around, and while that doesn't take away from some of the perfectly crafted poems (of which there are a few), in a collection with fewer than twenty-five poems, each one matters.

I do think this is collection that's worth going back to. In fact, I think it will get better as the iterations go on. There are threads I picked up on reading through once, but I'd imagine there are more threads tying specific poems together that I'd pick up on if I read through again.

Overall, a solid collection from Flowers, and I'll be reading more from the poet.

3.8

“Let them love what is more than themselves, let them love in a way that belongs to no one else.”

It is a short poetry collection where each poem is named after one of the taro cards. Matching the imagery of the cards to poems is such an interesting and innovative concept which i had to read! Even though i personally didn't connect to many of the poems, the author's writing style was so indulging that i couldn't put it down. Mystical and magical undertones, lovely descriptions, references to ghosts and deeper meanings hiding in a very limited sequence of words is truly admiring.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me the e-arc.

Un libricino molto carino ma anche molto corto: una raccolta di poesie a tema arcani maggiori che ci racconta il percorso di crescita personale di Elektra Flowers, che si ritrova prima in un bagno di lacrime per colpa di una persona uscita dalla sua vita, ma poi riesce ad uscirne grazie al suo fanciullo interiore. Il risultato finale non è una persona allegra, ma sicuramente più stabile e con esperienza:

Devo dire che, a parte la lunghezza, ho trovato alcune parti ripetitive ma soprattutto i tarocchi sono solo una lontana ispirazione (e da studiosa del campo, un po' mi è dispiaciuto per questa esca).

Poesie preferite: Morte e Stelle

I really quite enjoyed reading through this small collection. Elektra is a poet with a beautiful grasp of imagery, and I would happily look forward to reading more of their work.

As someone with a baseline understanding of what each tarot card means, and who does not practice myself, I appreciated this collection as a window into understanding what each card may intend -- almost like a beautiful, useful book depicting each card's use through metaphor. After reading, I found myself forming an appreciation for how tarot cards, like poems, connect and resonate with individuals in different ways. The poet carries certain images and moods through the collection with repeated phrasing, and this repetition is mostly effective when placed in close proximity to emphasize intention. Where the repetitions are further apart, it could come off as a lack of ideas later on in the collection, or be lost on the reader as repetition at all. But in general, the closeness of the collection as a whole works well with this technique, as it is not overdone.

As a whole, I enjoyed the poems which were character driven more than those which were more abstract. I enjoy grasping a clear connection, be it through prose or metaphor, and some of the poems in this collection were a little more wide angled with the images they discussed, or a little to quick at reaching their end, for someone like me without a large historical grasp on tarot. Though I do recognize I may not be the perfect or most intended reader. With even my limited tarot knowledge, I very much liked the poem for the Fool card, and thought the humanization here was immersive. As a side note, one which I was very glad at myself for noticing!, I appreciated that the poem's character is depicted clearly as choosing to step off that ledge. As I'm aware, some tarot illustrations imply an accidental fall, quite inconsistent with the card's inherent meaning.

Additionally, accompanying illustrations would have been especially helpful.

All in all, I thought the size of the collection was spot on for a swift read that worked well together as a whole, was immensely enjoyable, and provided beautiful concepts and imagery the whole way through.

A very short collection of poems based off the Major Arcana in a tarot deck. The imagery and themes were beautiful and lush and the writing style flowed really well! The subtitle "Poems for the Apocalypse" made me think of these poems as a sort of story told before a big event or battle. It's as if I sat down for a reading before the end of everything, and this is what I would be told. It's a wonderful way to read this collection.

I would have loved to see more poems for Minor Arcana cards in the collection or even interpretations of the cards reversed forms.
My favorite poems are: "The Hermit" and "Temperance".

I'm a new poem reader and certain stuff can be hard for me but not this, this was beautiful and delicate and each poem made its way to my heart .
I loved the idea of every poem being a tarot card and how they depict different things.
Will definitely buy a physical copy and read it again

Thank you so much to Elektra Flowers and @netgalley for sending me a copy of "The Tarot Cycle: Poems for the Apocalypse" in exchange for an honest review.

Amid the saturation of the contemporary poetry we see today, this book definitely delivers more than its peers. Although it would be useful and an entirely fitting experience if you are well-versed with tarot cards unlike me, I feel like I got the message in every poem, nonetheless.

It is lyrical but not condescending. Straightforward at times but flowery on parts when it needed to be. But what I really admired about it is, it talks beyond romance, it talks about the profound and the mundanes of life.

Thanks to NetGalley and BooksGoSocial for the free digital copy of this book.

3.5 stars.

I don't usually read poetry, but the theme and cover of this anthology caught my attention. For anyone who's familiar with tarot cards, this book covers a poem for each of the major arcana while also taking us through the fool's journey. All of the poems manage to take us a bit deeper into each of these cards, meeting each "character" involved. My faves were "The Fool", "Justice" and "The Star".

The Tarot Cycle: Poems for the Apocalypse explores the archetypes of the tarot's major arcana. The poems read as if spoken by a loving mythic voice. Each enters to the meaning of the card the poem is named after, such as "Strength," and "The Hermit.". Those who read them without knowing the tarot should be able to appreciate the tone and the mystery each poem describes.

I absolutely loved this short and easy-to-read collection of poems, I can see this not being a great read for those who aren't familiar with the symbolism of tarot, but I definitely think you could still enjoy it either way!

Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for an e-copy of this book.

I enjoyed these poems and I felt that they gave an added dimension to the understanding of the major arcana. They are a useful addition to traditional interpretations of the cards, and I hope the author produces poems for the remaining tarot cards!

A beautiful and creative collection of poetry. I felt the way of using the Tarot deck very interesting.