“She Felt Like Feeling Nothing”

“She Felt Like Feeling Nothing”

Written by R.H. Sin

Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

 

A favorite romance poet of mine is R.H. Sin, who writes on bad relationships, self-worth, mental health, abuse, alcoholism, friendships, and raising children. This prolific writer has created many poetry collections so far, writing hundreds of poems for each book. His poetry feels genuine, as if he just speaking to you from the heart while you’re having a cup of coffee together. Sin’s work is just so impressive to me, and I perfectly plan to own all of his collections.

 

She Felt Like Feeling Nothing specifically hones in on female emotion before a relationship, during, and after. I appreciate how Sin creates poems that encourage his readers to strive to be their best and to wish to be treated well. He also seems to write more wisely and more about the real world as he grows older, his poems becoming more realistic and less dream-like. The collection is split into some sections, such as the Scenes and the Hymns, with other poems spaced in intermittently.

 

The poems I enjoyed most from this collection are:

Scenes: “Two, Three, Twelve, Fourteen, Twenty-Six, Twenty-Nine, Thirty, Thirty-Two, and Thirty-Five”

Hymn: “Four, Seven, Nine, Twelve, Seventeen, Twenty-Two”

“My Life After You”

“I Blame the Movies”

“22 Minutes Beyond Midnight”

“Broken Fuse”

 

I rate this collection at 5 out of 5 stars for the content, the poems I enjoyed, and the themes. This is one of the stronger collections in his repertoire.

"You Can't Kill Me Twice"

"You Can't Kill Me Twice"
Written by Charlyne Yi
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

"You Can't Kill Me" is the first work that I have encountered by Charlyne Yi, a poet, comedian, writer, actress, and musician. Yi's collection of poetry and illustrations was so incredibly unique, in such a ridiculous and fun way.

Yi's poetry is comedic, serious, feministic, and fun, all in one incredible package. At first, I had to come to grips that some of her poems and illustrations are just plain ridiculous, in a fun and interesting way. Yi's poems are highly likable, once you come to the understanding that some of them are strange and weird on purpose. Her words almost feel like satire sometimes.

A wonderful aspect of her poetry is the serious themes that are underneath the dark comedy elements. Her poetry asks of the reader to take care of themselves, to love carefully, and be a great person. Sometimes, her metaphors and silly verses do really take ahold of you.

Although I am not typically a fan of comedic writing and funny poetry, I still enjoyed the collection. Accompanied by the odd illustrations, the book was quite fun.

Yi has interesting segments in the book, "The Study of Types of Love, Friendship, Family, and Romance" and "The Optometrist". Her peculiar insight creates interesting reading material.

I personally liked her work very much. I plan to look into her other works. I truly think a great career for her would be to write and draw cartoons. Her comedy definitely needs to be brought further into the world. I cannot wait to look more into her art and writing.

I rated this collection of poetry and illustrations at a four star rating out of five stars.

I received a complimentary edition of this book from the publisher in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes. Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing.

"How to Be a Poet"

"How to Be a Poet"
Written by J.M. Farkas
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia

"How to Be a Poet" is the second book written by J.M. Farkas, in the style of black-out, or in this case, white-out poetry. Farkas draws from Ovid's poem, "Ars Amatoria", an epic poem about love.

Farkas uses seven bottles of white correction fluid to mark out about 90 percent of the poem, leaving words out that help make a cohesive poem for herself. Her encompassing poem sets out to teach the reader how to be a poet, using the secluded words to create metaphors and personification.

Personally, this is not a type of poetry that I had delved into before. In reading the pages and thinking how many of Ovid's words had been manipulated, I found myself drawing a dislike for this style of poetry. I think using someone else's poetry in this way is a bit cheap. Although her final poem reads nicely in a style of poetry I would read, I do not like the entire poetry style.

The second half of the book is Ovid's original poem, but Farkas's poem's words typed in a bold font. I personally did not enjoy this section, because I do not enjoy Ovid's poetry. I felt that this book used a certain level of effort that just does not appeal to me. I feel that the creation of this book feels disengenious, taking advantage of the source material.

I would not recommend reading this book. I do not plan to continue reading Farkas's work.

I received a complimentary copy of this book in exchange for reading and reviewing purposes. Thank you to Andrews McMeel Publishing for the opportunity.

"The Likes of Us"

“The Likes of Us”

Written by Michael Gottlieb

Review written by Diana Iozzia

 

“The Likes of Us” is a very complex and verbose collection of poetry written by Michael Gottlieb. Unfortunately, the vocabulary is much stronger and harder to understand. I felt myself unable to understand any poetry fully, since many of them are created with sentence fragments, allusions, idioms, and difficult vocabulary. I felt that each poem had a certain awkward, frazzled disorganization that I could just not grasp a hold of. It also didn’t help me that every poem felt like it all belonged in one epic, which still did not provide enough clarity.

I remembered as I began to learn, I was taught to read a page and if I could not understand at least five words, I was told to choose a different book instead. I always chose to read it anyway, however, this book was far too tough for me. This poetry collection is clearly for someone else. I personally understand William Shakespeare’s classic literature more than I understand this.

The poems I (think I) enjoyed are:

“A Rout-in-Waiting”

“Untroubled by Rest”

“Early + Late”

“A Kind of Waiting Room”

Sadly, I do not recommend this collection of poetry. I plan to pass on my copy.

"Twilight and Homecoming"

"Twilight and Homecoming"
Written by Uzoechi Nwagbara
Review written by Diana Iozzia



"Twilight and Homecoming" is a book of poetry, which is very opinionated and political, but in a way that many people can appreciate. This book is very honest, but very in your face about the struggles that many people from Nwagbara's culture have experienced and are still currently experiencing. This book is a call to arms, a call to attention of issues that many people might not know about. There are warnings about war, globalism, and corrupt politics. There is also a lovely underlying sentiment of hope.

Nwagbara's poetry is very eloquent, similar to the writing styles of a modern Edgar Allan Poe. There are many interesting similes, metaphors, and allusions. His poems are a bit exclamatory, and most sentences end with exclamation points. Sometimes, I cannot tell if it's a grammatical error or editing error, but some words are randomly capitalized and differently font formatted.

The poems I enjoyed most are:
"Homecoming"
"No Matter What"
"Summer of Rain" *
"I See A New Day" *
"Cultural Converters" *
"Fatal Beauty" *
"The Other Side of Silence" 
"Full Moon" *

I received a complimentary copy for reading and reviewing purposes.

"Care"

"Care"
Written by Mary Briggs
Reviewed by Diana Iozzia


"Care" is a wonderfully crafted book of poetry, written about the loss and grief Mary Briggs endured when her young son passed away from a battle with cancer and health complications. Our hearts break with Mary Briggs as we read poems about before he was sick, while he was sick, and we also hear her son's last words. This is an incredible work, and it should be praised, similarly to books by Joan Didion and Joyce Maynard.

There are many great poems in this collection, so I will mention the ones I like. If there is an asterisk next to a poem's name, it signifies a favorite:

"Tomorrow" *
"Winds" *
"Elusive Happiness" *
"Waiting"
"The Sun Shines on the Outside"
"I Am a Bench"
"I Am a Child / Was"
"Past Resurrection"
"I Know"
"A Great Wall"
"New Year" *
"Come Home"
"Grief and Your Blazer" *
"Haunting"
"Quiet Morning" *
"So I Stood on the Hill"
"Stop 7:30 a.m. Silence"
"13 Diaries"
"God's Soul Primaries"
"Could I Have Captured?"
"Early"
"Breathing, Trapped in a Submarine"
"Packing A Life" *
"Grief Blazes Red" *

In the end of the book, we have a list of lovely but saddening memories of Mary and her son. This was reminiscent of the final portion of "Mortality" by Christopher Hitchens, told by his wife.

Unfortunately, I have to point out quite a few grammatical errors. Also, one of the poems is printed twice, which is quite confusing.

Otherwise, I thoroughly enjoyed this book of poetry. I received a complimentary copy for reading and reviewing purposes from Olympia Publishing.

"Sticks and Stones Falling From the Sky"

"Sticks and Stones Falling From the Sky"
Written by Andrew Daniels
Review written by Diana Iozzia 



"Sticks and Stones Falling From the Sky" is a very romantic but mystical book of poetry. When beginning to read this book, I instantly felt connected on a fantasy level, with elements of knights, kings, queens, elves, mythical creatures, vikings, dwarves, giants, different type periods, samurai, and more. I read this book not long after finally watching all of the Lord of the Rings films, so I felt a bit of fantasy connection there. 

Andrew Daniels creates great personification, metaphors, and similes to create his poetry. There is a dream-like quality to his poems, and it's greatly appreciated by me. The cover of this book is beautiful, and the font and layout inside the book are great as well. 

I had many favorite poems in this collection. Here are the poems I enjoyed most:

"Autumn" *
"Grass"
"Waves from a Mermaid Violin" *
"Steel Love and Steel Faith"
"Gardens of Honor and Respect"
"Gift of the Silver Tongue"
"Spring, Summer, Winter"
"The Sunshine Here and the Sunshine There"
"The Sun Dances with the Moon"
"Playing Hardball with God"
"A Ladder to the Moon"
"Dancing to Italy"

I fully recommend this book of poetry. It was a wonderful read for me. I received this book of poetry in partnership to read and review it.

"The Suicide"

“The Suicide”

Written by Amy Tollyfield

Review written by Diana Iozzia

           

            Poetry is always a fickle read for me. At this point in my reading experience, I have concluded that sadder, angrier, and darker poetry can be a fantastic read for me, or something I would like to avoid like the plague. Sometimes, I draw a line straight down the middle.

            With “The Suicide” I found poems I enjoyed, but I also found poems that were just not the right style for me. Some of Tollyfield’s poems are similar to Silvia Plath, whose poems and prose I have always enjoyed. Quite a few of the poems also reminded me of the book, “Girl, Interrupted” as well as Plath’s “The Bell Jar”.

            Amy Tollyfield’s poetry is full of similes, metaphors, and allusions. I do like a great allusion, but some of the mentions seemed necessary only to complete the rhyme couplet, as the typical style is 1212 or 12 32. For example, I thought rhyming “Pocahontas” with “orthodontist” was a bit of a stretch. I remember my younger adolescent years when I used a rhyming dictionary and came up with similar rhymes. To continue, I also enjoyed Tollyfield’s use of different colors to describe actions, emotions, and more.

            I personally felt that the majority of the poems in this collection were not for me. I enjoyed reading the collection, but I do think poetry is very subjective. The poems I enjoyed most are:

“Ask”

“Rosé”

“Big Sea”

“Dice”

“Johanna”

“Tide”

Courtesy of Olympia Publishing, I received a complimentary copy of this book for reading and reviewing purposes.

“You, Me, The Sun, and the Stars”

“You, Me, The Sun, and the Stars”

Written by G.P. Loehr

Review written by Diana Iozzia

            “You, Me, The Sun, and the Stars” is a poetry collection, with many poems centering around love, heartbreak, and faith. This book grants a cute, Southern American charm, if that was intended or not. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book, through the perspective of the author. Loehr speaks of many emotions in a very natural and believable way. The reader can imagine the emotional experience he has been through and sympathize, relating in their own ways to their own loves. For instance, I related to quite a few of his poems surrounding long-distance love, because I myself am in a long-distance engagement. I felt very at peace reading Loehr’s books. I can imagine reading this on a nice, wooden porch with a glass of something cold and sweet.

            To continue, I enjoyed that many of Loehr’s poems have similar themes. Certain colors, days, times, and themes of nature are present throughout the book. The most noticeable recurring theme is the one of nature: the sun, the moon, the stars, the universe, day, night. I understand why he has titled the book after these. I often enjoy a theme in a poetry book’s organization. They feel more cohesive and as if you are experiencing the journey with the poet.

            I enjoyed many poems of his. I would like to share the titles with you:

“Tomorrow, We’ll Be Together”                           “These Summer Nights”

“The Foxtrot”                                                           “A Dream That You Inspired”

“Sunburst”                                                                “Shooting Stars”

“Atlas”                                                                       “Lullabies”

“Cycles”                                                                     “The Summer Rains”

            “Foxtrot” was my absolute favorite.

Courtesy of Olympia Publishing, I received a complimentary copy of this book for reading and reviewing purposes.

"I Wrote"

“I Wrote”

Written by Alice Bogen

Review written by Diana Iozzia

 The experience of reading “I Wrote” was absolutely wonderful. “I Wrote” was written by a seventeen-year-old poet. Jeez. Way to make the rest of us look unaccomplished! Alice Bogen’s poetry reflects a certain wisdom she has learned so far. Her writing also reflects a deep maturity and understand of her experience in the world. Her poetry is a large mix of different emotions, tales, and times in her life.

Her poems can be a bit sad or startling, but they have a genuine hope to them, which I find refreshing. There are many beautiful metaphors to nature, but they come across very realistic. Often, we find metaphors that just have sprinkles of random things thrown in. People are turtles, in the slow movements they make. He was the ocean after a storm. It can be a bit like Mad Libs, sometimes. However, Alice’s metaphors, similes, and other comparisons are very simplistic and believable.

To continue, an interesting technique that Bogen has implemented into her book is using general abstract themes or emotions like bravery, fame, happiness, youth, beauty and more. She creates original poems that are more than just their titles with a spin.

I enjoyed a multitude of poems in this book. They are:

 “I Wrote”                              “Happiness”                          “They”           

“Last May”                           “Youth”                                  “Beauty”

“Bravery”                              “Last Huge Breath”            “Life Shall Be Lived”

“Sacrifice”                             “Seen”                                    “The World is Not Enough”

“To Her”                                “Wings”                                 “To Leo”

“Acceptance”                        “Ears Don’t Lie”                  “Lion”

“Brother”                               “To M 2”                                “Goodbye”

“Consequences”                   “Sinners”                               “The Devil”

Courtesy of Olympia Publishing, I received a complimentary copy of this book for reading and reviewing purposes.

"Shards"

“Shards”

Written by Fariha Khayyam

 

 Fariha’s poetry is haunting and beautiful, similar to gothic romance poetry. I felt like I was reading this while being placed into a dark garden with moonlight, or as if I was on top of a mountain. This feels very ethereal to me, but I can understand the pain, the sadness, and the hurt that was written down into poems here. It reminds me of the feelings of sadness and beauty found in Guillermo Del Toro’s creations.

“Shards” is separated into four sections, in order of telling the story within the poems. We have: “The Shattering”, “The Redemption”, “The Rising”, and “The Reforming”. This reads like an epic, similar to “Beowulf”. It’s natural and spiritual, and it feels like it needs read while standing on a mountain. Very wonderful to read and enjoy. I feel like I can go conquer a country now.

  My favorite poems in this collection are:

·        (Some pages have poems without titles): pages: 14, 24, 26, 28, 36*, 52*, and 56.

·        “What Scared Her”

·        “Maybe a Little Different”

·        “Tangled, trapped, but alive”

·        “Let Me, Just Me”

·        “Freedom”

·        “Unleashed”

·        “Nothing Can Stop Her Now” *

·        “Stubborn”

·        “Go Wild”

* I thank Fariha for sending me an e-copy of this book to read and review. *

"Sweet Hearts"

“sweet hearts”

Written by Bella Ryan

          Bella Ryan is a great poet, so it’s funny to even say, “because she’s so young, it’s surprising”. Many fantastic parts of literature were created by young artists. Bella Ryan is one of them. As a self-published writer, Bella’s created a beautifully designed book with many poems about her initial infatuation with her now husband, their love story, and their lives together now. From speaking with the poet, she’s lovely, kind, and interesting. Bella’s poetry speaks wonders to the love story she and her husband have.

          Like myself, Bella and her husband have been in a long-distance relationship. As I am still in mine and haven’t “closed the distance”, I find it really calming and soothing to read poetry of a couple who have moved in together. Bella uses great poetic techniques in her writing. She includes many metaphors, similes, interesting juxtaposition. Her poems seem very nostalgic and fairy tale like, in some instances. I also enjoy that the poems feel very consistent throughout the book. I always feel that a collection reads best if the poems are similar and in the same writing style. The words are quiet, but very sweet and nice to read. I had the lucky chance to listen to her read out some of her poetry today, and it gave the same warm fuzzy feeling that I had as I read along. Her book is great to read along to with a nice hot drink and a couple of snacks. If only I had a fireplace.

          My favorite part of “sweethearts” is the New Year’s Eve poems. These poems, I assume, were written annually, or about each year that Bella and her husband have been together. I personally find myself to be a romantic and very sentimental, so these hit me hard in the best way. Realizing that one year they’re just at the beginning of their love. Another year they’ve moved in and are settled together in a home of their own. Her poems are very real and caring. I can become a bit funny with poetry that sounds like it’s completely imagined. Poetry feels best to me when it’s natural and based in truth. Not “I was walking by the ocean today and I thought of our love”. Were you, were you really at the ocean? I feel that Bella’s poetry is coming from the heart. The words feel like love letters or like bed time stories. There are also many allusions to Greek mythology, which I thoroughly enjoy as well.

          I have many favorite poems. Quite honestly, I think “sweethearts” could have just become my new favorite book of poetry. From a new, self-published, smaller, indie poet, no less. I hope all the best for Bella, this book is exciting. My favorite poems include:

·        “Goldilocks”

·        “Airports”

·        “Implode”

·        The New Year poems ***

·        “Between Us” **

·        “Confection” **

·        “Shadow” *

·        “Vertigo”

·        “8.8.16”

·        “Moving In”

·        “He Is” ***

·        “I Wonder What He Dreams”

·        “Sculptor”

·        “A Collection of Him”

·        “Storms At Midnight”

·        “Platonics”

·        “Homecoming”

          With all of my reviews, I often try to mention what I disliked or didn’t find interesting about a book. I am happy to report I didn’t have any of the such. I thoroughly and honestly loved this book. Please, if you’re looking for a scathing, determined review, look at some of my other ones. This is a great poetry book, and I am so happy to add this to my collection.

* I received a complementary copy from the author for reviewing purposes. *

"rest in the mourning"

“rest in the mourning”

Written by R.H. Sin

Review written by Diana Iozzia

            “rest in the mourning” is a collection of poetry that centers around loss and sadness. This is a very short collection in comparison to the other two books I’ve read by R.H. Sin so far. “rest in the mourning” only clocks at 118 pages, but I still think it was immensely worth the read. I am so appreciative to have found a modern poet I like so much. I have always enjoyed reading Robert Frost, Edgar Allan Poe, and Henry David Thoreau most, but I am grateful to have read a poet who has just started becoming published over the past three years.

            Please read my other reviews on his collections, “whiskey words & a shovel III” and “a beautiful composition of broken”, to understand my full love and understanding of his poetry. R.H. uses great metaphors and personification to speak about love, self-respect, kindness, trustworthiness, heartbreak, and life. My favorite poems of his often include a metaphor or personification that compares something to nature or to the elements. Additionally, most of his poems do link together in his other collections. Some are in two or three parts. This collection reads to me like a chain link game, where the poem directly leads to the next poem. Then, the next takes a part of the previous and so on.

            I seem to have forgot to mention in all of my reviews of his books so far, but I really like the titles of the poems. I think the most interesting titles are the ones that are named after the date he wrote them, the day that inspired the poem, or the time at which they were written.

            Because this collection is significantly smaller than the others I have read, I had thought there would be a smaller number of favorite poems. I was wrong. Nonetheless my favorite poems here are:

“many broken promises.” pg. 5

“it’s late I & II.” pg. 8 – 9

“mouth of lies.” pg. 11

* “beside the moon.” pg. 17

“many moons, many battles.” pg. 18

* “a type of love.” pg. 23

* “some sleep.” pg. 25

“rest in the mourning.” pg. 33

“heart’s silence.” pg. 48

* “resting.” pg. 75

“total recall.” pg. 87

“my 20s.” pg. 117

I received this poetry collection as a complimentary copy for reviewing purposes through the publisher.

* favorite poems in collection

"whiskey words & a shovel III"

“Whiskey Words & A Shovel III”

Written by R.H. Sin

Review written by Diana Iozzia

            “whiskey words & a shovel III” is a collection of poetry, written by my newest favorite modern poet. r.h. Sin is an unorthodox poet with his lack of punctuation, capitalization, and the occasional intentional sentence fragment. I enjoy Mr. Sin’s poetry, but only a certain percentage of each book. I noticed that in the first book I had read by him, “a beautiful composition of broken” that his poetry in that book was very sad and heartbroken. The first half of “whiskey words & a shovel III” is very angry, confused, and a little vulgar. The second half is more likeable to me. I’m a bit of a prude when it comes to literature, so vulgar language and descriptions of sexual encounters often make me feel uncomfortable. His poetry does make you feel angry, because he’s angry. I just don’t like seeing the F word every page I turn. However, this book had more poems in it that I enjoyed in comparison to “a beautiful composition of broken”.

            If you haven’t read my other review, I highly suggest it. Many aspects of his poetry ring true in this book as well. r.h. Sin uses many different metaphors, similes, and great personification. However, the poems that I didn’t like in this book, I reeeally didn’t like. There are so many poems on how strong women are, how you should look for relationships that make you whole, how crappy some women are, how crappy men are. Like I mentioned before, many of the poems in this book are angry and a little bitter. But I do understand that in the world today, there are concerns of feminism, sexism, racism, so I’m not surprised to read the themes in this book, even if it can be a little brash.

            Still, I think I really enjoyed this book, because of all of the poems I did indeed like. There are quite a few, but here are the ones I suggest and like. I have bookmarked them, so enjoy!

“nightfall.” pg. 3

“she was and still is everything.” pg. 29

* “garden.” pg. 35

“midnight Colorado.” pg. 63

“the woman I love.” pg. 70

“April 18^th.” pg. 91

“under the moon.” pg. 123

“she is you IV.” pg. 149

“she was grand.” pg. 156

* “a garden for Gods.” pg. 169

* flames in the distance.” pg. 208

* “mountain high.” pg. 216

* “journal entry.” pg. 231 – 233

“grave garden.” pg. 237

“brown liquor girl.” pg. 238

“roses in the summer.” pg. 239

* “as the sun rises.” pg. 257

* heightened flames.” pg. 271

I received this poetry collection as a complimentary copy for reviewing purposes through the publisher.

* favorite poems in collection