“I read somewhere that it’s okay to miss people
even if you don’t want them in your life anymore;
and I hope that’s true. I hope everything I feel is okay.”

This is my first collection of poetry by Trista Mateer, and it makes me want to go out and read her other collections as soon as possible. I’ve been going through a phase where I dislike poetry focused on love/heartbreak, so I went into this collection a bit apprehensive – but wow. Through her poetry, Mateer creates a captivating story that is raw and honest. I felt like I was talking to a friend, like I was experiencing the relationship, the breakup, and the aftermath with her. It was also refreshing to hear the voice and experiences of a bisexual woman, as poetry still tends to be very heteronormative. My favourite poems included: Honeybee, Google Searches on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown, Luna Park, What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Leaving (What I Can Tell You About Leaving), Okay, and The B Word, among others.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of the collection in exchange for an honest review.

This is the first time I read any of Trista's poetry, but I'm so glad I did.
Sure, her poetry is not in any format most people are accustomed to, but that's actually why I loved it.
I loved the little photos/images inside the book - simple, sweet, delicate. I felt it went with the fragile and vulnerable tone of the book.

Her poems explore her own sexuality, her experiences with loss, loss, grief, and identity. It's modern poetry that reads like words tucked away, hidden on random pages of a forgotten book in the library and I loved this about it. I loved how random, thoughtful, sentimental,and raw some of the poems were.

I'm really sad to say, but I didn't enjoy this poetry collection. It felt very repetitive, and there was something about the style of poetry that stopped me from completely connecting and understanding the emotions Mateer was trying to show she was feeling. A part of me feels I may be distancing from this style of poetry, which is a shame, but the more I write my own poetry the more disconnected I feel.

The poems I enjoyed tended to be the ones revolving around her bisexuality and the way her family, and ex girlfriend/ex boyfriends, responded to her identity. I think that's really the only thing that stopped me from giving this collection a 1 star review. I really do think it's me just not enjoying this style anymore, and I hope anyone else who reads this may get more from it than I did.

I don't often read poetry books but I really enjoyed this one.I felt the MC's hurt and struggle with being part of the LGBTQ+ community. She loved a girl but the girl she loved was bound to her faith and was instead looking for a man. The poems were not in the typical format either, some were in short paragraphs which were still enjoyable to read. I'll definitely read more from this author.

I am a poetry reader and reading Mateer for the first time. I loved this book, the poems and writing is very casual but still strong. Even the names/headings of some poems were bang on. I have many highlighted lines in this book.
I am not a native English speaker but still felt the echo of the emotions propagated through me. Would definitely read Mateer's poems again.

I liked this collection, but I definitely did not love it. And to be completely honestly, I only fault this collection because it did not satisfy my own personal taste.

First of all, I would like to say that I think Trista Mateer is a very talented poet; however, I think because majority of these poems were inspired by her bitter breakup with her ex-girlfriend, the book as a whole left me feeling like she was obsessed. Was she? Who knows. Probably not but that's how it read to me. I felt overwhelmed 15% in because it was just too much for one book.

I couldn't really appreciate the other impactful messages she was trying to convey because there was a lot written about her ex, and it felt quite repetitive most of the time. It's a shame because she briefly mentions other controversial points throughout, for example: labels. She mentions the use of the "b" word (eh em... bisexuality). I identity with the "s" word (straight, people, I'm straight), but I was really intrigued in reading a collection of poems about love and loss from a bisexual woman's standpoint. Let's be honest, there aren't too many bisexual poets that are being published these days, and I wanted to show my support. However, I thought it was a little bit of a letdown when the bitter poems about her ex overshadowed the many other messages that MANY other girls would have related to and appreciated - especially because some poems implied that religion played a role in their breakup.

Aside from that, I really enjoyed the formatting of her poetry and use of punctuation. Her poems read quite nicely, and I freaking loved all of the titles she gave to every poem.

Anyways, I still think this is a powerful collection that everyone should give a read - especially those dealing with the struggles of coming out. I feel like you will either love these poems or just feel meh about them. Bottom line, love is love and don't let anyone tell you otherwise.

One of my favourite poems:

"Another Obligatory Poem Comparing A Girl
To Something Consumable

She was the whiskey:
a hard hit with a slow burn
I was the chase."

Thanks a million to Netgalley and the publisher for providing me with an e-ARC. Quotes are subject to change upon publication.

There was a lot that I loved about this book, and a lot that I didn't love. I found the story in whole to drag on quite a bit, but when I looked at it one poem at a time I enjoyed it a lot more. Some poems I completely fell in love with, and those simple illustrations really made this book something special. I think personally for me, this is the type of poetry book that I would enjoy most if I picked it up, randomly turned to a page, read the poem, and put it back down until next time. I will still be on the lookout to pick up a copy for myself, and I am excited to check out this authors other work.

I received a digital copy of this book from NetGalley and the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

The overarching story of losing love and counting down to the ex's wedding gets to be a bit much by the end, but I still loved many of the poems.

I was not a fan of these poems. The one redeeming quality I see is that they talk openly about being bisexual and the bias that both the straight and the LGBTQ community still have towards bisexual people.

I have been loving short form poetry lately and this book was such a impactful one to add to my repertoire. The poems are both full of pain and healing and I felt connected to the author while reading them. Though a quick reach this is one that I think will stick with me for a while.

Enjoyable! I wouldn't rate this a 4 but it was very close. I really fell in love with some of the writing and I look forward to more from this author.

I loved the visual aspects of this book however the poetry style unfortunately wasn't for me and I did not finish it. Thank you for the opportunity :)

THIS WAS BEAUTIFUL.
This was a poetry book all about heartbreak. I normally feel like I can’t relate much to heartbreak, but this was written so WELL that I felt myself caught up in the words and felt how heartbreaking it is. The writing was so beautiful! I found myself absolutely wrapped up in this, which doesn’t happen a lot with poetry. But I was captivated. It read as so raw sometimes that it almost hurt me. I highly recommend if you’re looking for beautifully written poetry about heartbreak and how people just don’t get it sometimes.

I was given this E-ARC by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

Over the past year, I’ve been more inclined to read poetry along the lines of r.h.Sin and Rupi Kaur. Trista Mateer can definitely fall into this category of poets who truly write from experience and hit topics such as love, loss, letting go, and reclaiming of self. Honeybee is one such documentation.

One thing I love about this book is that it doesn’t conform to any one pattern of poetry. There is no rhyme or reason, but it’s free. It can transform into anything, whether it be one sentence or a whole a page. It’s something that you can tell that it’s just one piece of a larger story and that you’re just seeing a piece of some greater emotion.

Overall, I thought it was good. I didn’t connect very well with some of the poems, but for others, it might just hit home.

Breaking up and letting go

This is a raw and emotional outpouring in poetry and prose describing the break-up of a relationship and the difficulty afterwards in letting go.

Trista Mateer approaches this subject in a very different way using an original format. The content is dense and unrelenting, with only occasional touching and gentler moments. It moves from the first moments of breaking up, to the reality of the situation hit home and the effort to pick up the pieces. The use of language is accomplished and the content pours out across the pages in an emotional stream.

But, for some reason, a quarter way through, I began to feel detached and not emotionally involved at all. There were moments which anyone who has been through the ending of a relationship will instantly recognise, but it was all rather repetitive and full of anger and self-pity. It would have been a relief to have had an occasional flash of humour, however dark. The flow was also muddled with the complication of the sexual make-up of the narrator with constant references to it - lesbian, bisexual? It was difficult to tell, and in any case, did this really matter?

I am sure many will enjoy this book and find it moving. It just wasn’t for me.

Jane

Breakaway Reviewers received a copy of the book to review.

I enjoyed this collection of poetry and the varied lengths and types of poems within. I appreciated the variation in tone from poem to poem, as I felt it accurately reflected the process of letting go and the conflicting emotions that go along with it. I don't currently have any poetry books in my collection that focus on bisexuality or same sex relationships, so this will be a good one to help round out my collection to capture the idea of love from all perspectives. I think that many people will be able to connect with Trista Mateer's work, as love and heartbreak are universal to us all, regardless of sexual orientation.

I didn't love them, but I didn't hate them. I just don't think that these poems were for me - because that's how poetry is, it's either for you..or it's not.

Although these weren't for me, I can still appreciate the writing, and how it was clearly done with passion and emotion. The poems are pieced together so they flow perfectly from start to finish.

These are not bad poems; this is not bad writing.
It's nothing that I can personally rave about, but I can say that it's definitely worth picking up and giving it a fair chance.

"I called you honeybee for seven years. Now the bees are disappearing and so are you. I'm trying my best not to find this poetic." - I wouldn't call this book a poetry collection, though it definitely is full of poetry, but not every piece in here is a poem (not in my eyes), some read like diary entries, some like notes, but there's still a poetic prose. It all adds up and creates a journey, journey through love and forgiveness and moving on. I find a big portion of this book relatable and it definitely feels like reading my own thoughts and experiances in another person's words. Sometimes it's beautiful, sometimes it's casual, it's real. There is also some light humor, like a piece entitled "Another Obligatory Poem Comparing A Girl To Something Consumable".
It's worth noting that it's a story about the relation(ship) between two young women and contains some truths about struggles with bisexuality (self-acceptance, labelling, stereotypes etc.), which may be thought provoking and is definitely an important matter.
The beautiful cover and scans, drawings, handwritten notes inside of the book only add to the experience, quite personal, a bit secretive (like going through someone's journal) of reading this book.

3.5/5 (7/10) - recommended especially to everyone who appreciate openness, softness, exploring their own feelings and ever struggled with letting things go.

None of these poems connected for me. Felt a bit like reading a social media feed instead of poetry. Maybe I am not within the target audience age range.

What a quietly heartbreaking collection. I can see fans of Milk & Honey being a big fan of Honeybee. This collection discusses bisexuality, grief, heartbreak, and loneliness. Beautiful.