Songs with Our Eyes Closed is a poetry and prose collection about love, loss, depression and resilience. These poems and prose were inspired by his own childhood, his relationship with his dad and his past relationships.


no amount of darkness
can drown out our light
if our light
has been lit within


Songs with Our Eyes Closed is divided into 8 parts:
a song for every season
the intricacies of odd numbers
on nights you do not remember how to sing
why we’ve come to break unevenly
a song for those lost at sea
the ways we fall asleep
songs my daughter would have sung
in your attic, under the stars

My favourite parts are: a song for every season; on nights you do not remember how to sing; the ways we fall asleep; in your attic, under the stars


just hold on –

even the most
violent storms
eventually die

even the
dimmest lights
have a chance
to shine



I really liked this poetry and prose collection. You get to know so much more about the author and that’s definitely one of the things I love the most about this collection. The only negative point about this collection is that there were no titles, just themes. It was kind of hard to figure out when the poem ended and the next poem started.


we live in fear
of silence
because it is filled
with the echoes
of all the things
we left unsaid


Overall I really liked this collection written by Tyler Kent White. I cannot wait to read more of his work!

I recieved a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley for an honest review.

This poetry book is full of heart and emotion. My words couldn't possibly do the author justice. I definitely know a few people this would make a great gift for.

My favorite two parts:
You are a
symphony
of stardust
and you were
born to shine.
:::::::::::::::::::::::
When you doubt
The brilliance of your shine
I will take you
Through my darkness
I will show you where
You shine the brightest.

A lovely collection of poetry. The feelings of love and lose was beautifully portrayed.

I received this ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. I enjoyed this poetry collection.

Many times I loved certain poems but, as a whole, I found this to self-congratulatory and too specific. The part about his daughter that passed was the best.

I did enjoy some poems but I could get to it with my heart. It was OK for me, but it could be really good for someone else.
"Such is the fault of man
that we can speak
and ask others to listen
but we can not listen
and ask others to speak"

4.5 Stars

There were a few of those instagram one sentence breakdowns that I’m not a fan of, but on a whole, this collection is heartfelt, emotional, and strong. (And honestly the one liners didn’t bother me here as there were only a few and nicely dispersed.)

At times, he reminds me of a more romantic, younger Billy Collins (as a huge fan of Collins, this is definitely a compliment). Where Collins takes a place or object and creates an introspective poem, White does this with a person or a feeling.

He writes about finding yourself, being yourself, accepting yourself. He writes of a love, loss, and a spectrum of emotions that come to life with his words.

Of all of the new poets I’ve read this year, White may be my favorite.

There is a certain ability, you could call it, magic or art or sometimes a feeling, something that moves or sways you deep inside. Listen, I am simply saying that I could relate to these poems. I'll leave the magic to Mr. White and his words, but if you love poetry and you also seek to get lost in prose then this is the book for you.
I loved how the publishers aligned the poems, it felt like you started from the top, went to the middle and then the bottom which makes this collection unique because you can actually read the poems from the last page to the first and still love them.
They are arranged in five parts and something about the collection in part three "On nights you do not remember how to sing," struck home. I'm glad I requested to read this book and thank you NetGalley and the publishers.

I found a few of these poems very beautiful.
It did take me a little while to get used to the format, I couldn’t tell sometimes when one poem was ending and another starting. That being said, I read this as an early e book edition from NetGalley,I think it might be an early formatting issue. The poems have numbers rather than names, I think the page breaks might be in the wrong place. Or maybe it’s just me, this is definitely modern poetry and I’m not totally used to that format yet.

I’d suggest reading the poems in order rather than at random. I feel like I understood what the author was saying more this way.

The book covers poetry about love, loss, depression, death, addiction and illness. There’s a lot about someone trying to love themselves despite their flaws, even as their depression challenged them to do it.

Definitely sad but sad poetry can be moving.

I received this book for an honest review. I really enjoyed reading the poems in this book.. I feel like the author went into very good detail to describe the different emotions. Some of these verses were so tru to how I have felt sometimes. I enjoyed reading this book and I recommend it for those readers that enjoy poetry.