very interesting, wonderful concept love the poets felt a little weird and disconnected (haha) in terms of narrative, but it's possible that was intentional so I can't complaint

I did like the idea of different poets contributing to something like this. I was expecting more of the poetry than the short stories. But it is an interesting read.

[Dis]Connected is a surprisingly pleasant project of poetry and short fiction. Halket takes a dozen young poets and assigns them a task. First, they each contribute three poems. Second, they will be put into a random order and asked to choose one poem from the poet that they are paired with and write a short fiction influenced by that poem. The short fiction should contain a line or two from the poem but also be creative and not just a prose retelling of the poem.

Yena Sharma Purmasir writes the poem "Things That Aren't True" and tells of her life in things that are not true about it. Ian S. Thomas takes the poem and weaves an eerie story about hitchhiking and paying what is owed. The poets do a wonderful job in their own poetry and an amazing job in the short fiction. The stories all have fine threads that tie it back to the poem. This becomes an amazing treat for the reader. Not only is the reader contemplating a poem but also discovering its relationship to a short story. At times it seems like solving a mystery when the reader's mind clicks and sees a connection.

I usually get through poetry pretty fast which this took me longer because anthologies take me longer for some reason.  Besides it taking me a while to get through [Dis]Connected I did really enjoy it.  I read another by one of my favorite poets Amanda Lovelace but I also got introduced to poets that are new to me.  I have been wanting to read some of the poets poems that are featured in this book.  I really liked how there was a story to go a long with a poem it was very interesting and unique.  

I think if you are just getting into poetry and you enjoy anthologies you should pick this up and read it.  If you aren't as into anthologies and they take you a while to pick up maybe wait till you have read some from the poets.  There is something in there for everyone.

I enjoyed reading this book. It is filled with poets. It's a very unique collection. I recommend everyone pick it up and give it a try.

Many thanks for letting me read this in exchange for an honest review

I received a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

I absolutely loved this book! I took my time reading it. I read this book in one sitting and then I didn't read it in order. I wanted to open it up to a different page each day as if it was something new.. Being an author who writes poetry, it was a breath of fresh air to read so many wonderful hearts that were written on paper by such amazing poets. I loved how they picked off from different people. This needs to be done again. It's unique and I felt connected to all of it.

I love the premise behind this poetry/short story collection. Each writer must read a poem from another author, then write a short story loosely inspired by the piece. The story has to include at least one line from the poem. This unique and fun structure sets the book apart from other collections for sure. I love the magical realism and supernatural elements in many of the stories and was happy to learn about a few writers I haven't heard of before. However, as with all anthologies, there were some entries that completely missed the mark for me. Some felt a little disjointed and unfinished. But I'd definitely still recommend this read for anyone who's looking for something a little quirky and different.

I requested this on NetGalley purely because I saw that Amanda Lovelace had a short story in this collection. While I love her poetry, poetry isn’t my favourite type of book to read so I wanted to give her short fiction a read. Anthologies have always been a bit of a hit or miss with me-which have nothing to do with the authors or stories, it is my personal taste. [Dis]Connected is an interesting anthology as each author/poet wrote a poem which another author then wrote a short story based from. I only really liked a few stories, so I’ll only really talk about them.

Parietal Eye by Nikita Gill
Parietal Eye was a heartwarming and sad story about a woman who has recently lost her husband and is struggling with grief and depression. I also really loved the poem Gods and Mortals too.

Terra Firma by Sara Bond
Terra Firma is a dystopia about a group of people searching for the City of Light, a place that will save them from the dead world. It’s a well written story that I enjoyed.

Ultra by Yena Sharma Purmasir
Ultra was an unusual one. It is about a woman who becomes pregnant at 42. She thinks back on her mother and her sisters and about the superstitions they had. It is about sisterhood and family. It is a strange, albeit sort of… magical story.

Small Yellow Cottage On The Shore by Amanda Lovelace
This one was beautiful and magical and full of mystical creatures. I really loved this one and I have no doubt that if Amanda Lovelace ever writes a full-length novel, it will be great. I loved the writing style, it felt like you were reading a fairytale. I enjoyed the selkies and the sea witch. I loved the romances, full of sapphic women & ended with a polyamorous relationship.

The Unholy Wild by Trista Mateer
The Unholy Wild was a sweet story about angry women, sweet women, and women loving women. Also features the Greek God Artemis.

Overall, [Dis]Connected has some nice stories and some nice poems, but it didn’t always hit the right notes with me. But, I would especially recommend if you are a fan of poetry, especially from any of the authors.

Ever since I discovered “The Princess Saves Herself in this One”, Amanda Lovelace has been one of my favorite modern poets. She’s moved me with her words once again in this anthology and even the masterpieces she works on collaboratively.

I’ve never read R.H. Swaney’s poetry but his writing and collaborative works, in this anthology, were another one of my favorites.

This anthology was everything I was looking for in a unique anthology. Thanks for letting me review!

I adored reading this book. It is filled with all of my favourite poets. It was very unique collection. I recommend everyone pick it up and give it a try.

It has been a dream to read a collection of poems from my favorite poets: Nikita Gill, Amanda Lovelace, Ian S Thomas and Cyrus Parker. Disconnected also introduced me to some new-to-me poets as well and found a new fan in me. These poets words that make up this collection worked so well together and flowed seamlessly, I was in awe. It's something that you'll want to savor, take breaks in between and take in account how each words empowers readers who can relate to the poems in their own ways. I hope they collaborate again someday, I would love to read more of them. Thank you so much for the opportunity of reading this.

I enjoyed this collection a great deal. Part of what made it work for me is its concept-- poets writing poems, and then writing short stories playing off concepts or lines in a (randomly assigned) poem by one of their peers. I liked this for a few reasons-- one, the contributing poets I was familiar with are good, so I was excited to get more of their writing. Two, I was going to be exposed to some poets I had not yet read, and would be shown a variety of examples of their work. Finally, it's just a lot of fun to see writers break from their usual and explore a format they usually don't use. The stories had a different flavor than many short stories I read, because poets tend to think about writing differently than prose writers do. It's definitely a collection that is worth your time.

A great anthology of short stories and poems that includes very inspirational pieces. I love how the words of every poet who took part in this book are connected to each other.

Alex Jeanty, Cyrus Parker, Yena Sharma Purmasir, Amanda Lovelace, and Iain S. Thomas’ pieces were my favourite.

Thank you to by Amanda Lovelace; Nikita Gill; Iain S. Thomas; Cyrus Parker; Sara Bond; Yena Sharma Purmasir; Trista Mateer; Canisia Lubrin; R. H. Swaney; Pierre Alex Jeanty, Central Avenue Publishing, and NetGalley for allowing me the extreme pleasure of access to an advanced reader copy of “Disconnected: Poems & Stories of Connection and Otherwise” for an honest review.

I could not help jumping at the chance to read an anthology that included long-time favorite Amanda Lovelace, and new-favorite Nikita Gil, as well as several new poets and authors writing under this auspicious theme of connection/disconnection.

I felt the organization of this book could have been a little better curated, because, though I loved most of the piece in here, I felt the flow of the topics and pieces was not as seamless or smooth as they could have (should have?) been. I very much loved the poetry more than narrative/prose writing.

All in all it was better than it wasn’t.

This is a very cool concept! It's a mixture of poetry and short stories that all connect by using parts from the previous writer's poem. SO NEAT. I complain a lot about how I lose steam with poetry collections sometimes because they don't flow and can feel very disjointed. BUT THIS IS THE EXACT OPPOSITE OF THAT. Therefore I obviously loved the format of this lol. I haven't read a collection with short stories in god knows how long, so it was super nice and I felt extremely well done. I think this being all/majority poets meant that the short stories were so well done and fleshed out, being that what poets have to do is convey so much in less words. I really didn't have any problems with this other than the fact that it just didn't do much for me?? I just left it not feeling like I had read anything out of this world or a new favorite. It's still very solid and I do recommend this if you like poetry and like all the stories to flow really well. As with any anthology, there were some I enjoyed more than others but again nothing stood out as extraordinary or really bad. So that's why it's a 3 star fore me. Not amazing but still a good, solid read.

I received a free digital copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Dis]connected is an anthology of poetry and short stories paired together. Each writer was assigned a poem by another writer, and tasked to write a short story based on that poem.

Overall, this collection was pretty decent. As always with short story collections, there will always be some works you enjoy more than others, but the quality was fairly consistent throughout. It does show, I feel, that some of these writers aren’t really used to writing prose, but short stories are a difficult medium to pull off even if you’re used to writing fiction. I also had the feeling that a lot of the stories, to me, didn’t entirely seem to line up with the poetry prompts. I had a hard time drawing parallels between some of the poems and the story that followed it; there seemed, ironically, to be a disconnect, as if the writers had read the poems and then gone off and written their own story that seemed to bear little relation to the poem that was supposed to have inspired it, other than a quote from the poem or a throwaway scene. There were several stories in particular which stood out to me in this collection, which I’ll briefly discuss here.

Where the Sea Meets the Sky (Cyrus Parker) (sexual assault tw)

I didn’t know how to take this story at all. It’s about a couple who meet, fall in love and have a great relationship, which falls apart for reasons that our main character – Lee – can’t understand. His girlfriend Annabel is acting strange and distant, and spending a lot of time with her friends.

I can't say too much more without spoilers (for more in-depth thoughts, see my Goodreads review) but I think this is a subject that requires extremely sensitive handling and something about the story made me very uneasy. I’m sure the author’s intentions were good, but I found that the ambiguity of it was highly uncomfortable and I wasn’t sure what to make of it at all. This was also one of the stories which, to me, seemed to bear little relation to the poem it was paired with; Cyrus even mentions in an afterword that this work draws as much, if not more, inspiration from the poem ‘Annabel Lee’ than from the poem he was given to work with. However, this obviously is something that’s down to personal interpretation.

Small Yellow Cottage on the Shore (Amanda Lovelace)

Amanda Lovelace has long been associated with fairytales, and she continues that legacy in this story. It’s a sweet, mystical tale about selkies and witches and magic. Both the setting and description are fantastic, giving a really cosy vibe throughout. The story itself was sweet enough, if a little cheesy in places, but I think Amanda’s attention to detail made it a great self-indulgent pleasure read.

Driving with Strangers (Iain S Thomas)

This story stood apart from all the others because it was one of the few tales in this collection that wasn’t about love. It’s about a girl who hitches a lift from a mysterious stranger, which is all I’ll say about it. I feel that it was one of the most well-written stories in the book and also the one which felt the most like a short story, if that makes sense. I could see this story in a literary magazine or short story competition, which wasn’t a sense I really got from most of the others. It definitely had echoes of flash fiction, with its unanswered questions and mysterious airs, so I thought this was a great addition to the collection.

Ultra (Yena Sharma Purmasir)

This was a strange but emotional story about a woman whose mother had a strange paranoia about photographs. Perhaps taking to heart the old adage about cameras capturing your soul, the woman’s mother never allowed her to be photographed – and when our main character loses the scan photo of her unborn baby, she fears this will cause her to have a miscarriage.

This was one of the strongest stories in the collection, in my opinion. It was well-written, compelling and emotive, and although as a reader we know that the main character’s superstition is unfounded, the stakes are still high. I think this was a really great story and it definitely stood apart from the others.

Overall, I thought that [Dis]connected was a really great idea for a short story anthology. It does a great job of incorporating some lesser-known poets alongside big names, and I definitely have an interest in checking out the works of some of these smaller writers soon. Although I didn’t personally love the book, it did have its high points and I found it an interesting read.

[Dis]Connected is a surprisingly pleasant project of poetry and short fiction. Halket takes a dozen young poets and assigns them a task. First, they each contribute three poems. Second, they will be put into a random order and asked to choose one poem from the poet that they are paired with and write a short fiction influenced by that poem. The short fiction should contain a line or two from the poem but also be creative and not just a prose retelling of the poem.

Yena Sharma Purmasir writes the poem "Things That Aren't True" and tells of her life in things that are not true about it. Ian S. Thomas takes the poem and weaves an eerie story about hitchhiking and paying what is owed. The poets do a wonderful job in their own poetry and an amazing job in the short fiction. The stories all have fine threads that tie it back to the poem. This becomes an amazing treat for the reader. Not only is the reader contemplating a poem but also discovering its relationship to a short story. At times it seems like solving a mystery when the reader's mind clicks and sees a connection.

Halket presents an excellent selection of poets and offers much more diversity than usually seen in anthologies. Although she does praise social media for helping poetry, most lovers of poetry will be happy to know that there are no "Instagram sensations" and writers of platitudes in this selection. Here are real poets who also do a fantastic job at writing prose. [Dis]Connected is probably the most ambitious and impressive project I have read this year.

I usually thoroughly enjoy great, emotive and inspirational poetry, so I absolutely loved this wonderful anthology including prose by some of the biggest names in the poetry game right now. It's a collection of short stories and poetry whereby a poet is handed a poem written by another contributor and told to write a poem or short story based on said poem, therefore connecting all of the contributions to one another. As always there are some poems that are stronger and more powerful than others, but ultimately if you enjoy any of the poets' previous works you will likely appreciate this collection. The central theme that runs through every one of these pieces is that we are more disconnected than ever before due to our obsession with technology.

This is a great anthology to pick up if you're just getting into reading poetry as it gives you a taster of some of the most popular wordsmiths out there today. There certainly is something here for everyone, and many of the stories/poems are exquisitely written and capture not just your attention but your heart. Powerful, memorable and beautiful - what a fantastic collection!

Many thanks to Central Avenue Publishing for an ARC. I was not required to post a review, and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own.

2.5 stars

I was pretty excited about the release of [Dis]Connected when it was first announced. What's not to like about a poetry anthology?

I spoke too soon.

The idea to this anthology is that each author submits three poems that adhere to the overall theme. The poems are assigned randomly to another author who has to write a short story based on one of the poems. For example, Cyrus Parker draws Nikita Gill's name which means he has to write a short story based on one of her poems, then another author draws Parker's name and has to write his story, and so forth.

According to the editor, Michelle Halket, [Dis]Connected centers around the idea of being connected: «We seem to live in a hyper connected world, yet we increasingly hear stories of loneliness, isolation and disconnect.»
However, upon reading this anthology I sensed a disconnect between the short stories and the theme.

I enjoyed the overall idea of writing a short story based on a poem and then reading them together. However, I enjoyed the poetry aspect more in comparison to the prose. I think the poems fit the theme better than their counterparts, and I wish the anthology had just focused on the poetry.
The final section to the anthology contains the poems that were not picked and I admit I enjoyed that section even less.

My favorite poems were "The Blessing and The Curse" by Pierre Alex Jeanty; "No Turning Back" by Cyrus Parker; "Impermanence" by Sara Bond; "Astral Travel" by Amanda Lovelace; "Crowded" by Sara Bond.

Here are my individual ratings to the short stories:
Parietal Eye by Nikita Gill - 2 stars
Where the Sea Meets the Sky by Cyrus Parker - 1.5 stars
Terra Firma by Sara Bond - 2 stars
Ultra by Yena Sharma Purmasir - 4 stars
Driving with Strangers by Iain S. Thomas - 3.5 stars
Small Yellow Cottage on the Shore by Amanda Lovelace - 2.5 stars
A Way to Leave by R. H. Swaney - 1 star
The Unholy Wild by Trista Mateer - 2.5 stars
The Train by Liam Ryan - 2.5 stars
The Shooting Squad - 2 stars

I am aware that it's not easy to write a short story (been there, done that) but, overall, what I noted in this collection is the lack of depth regarding every story and the connections in it. The only story that came close was "Ultra" but in every story, there is room for development. I also thought that they didn't quite fit the brief that the editor chose. I didn't get the sense of loneliness or the necessity for a connection, and the stories didn't immerse me into them.
Some stories briefly worked themes of sexual assault and I wish it had been more pronounced and developed.

To conclude, I was extremely excited to read and review this anthology but I was extremely disappointed with what I read. I don't think the poems and the stories adhered to the theme imposed which was a shame.
I am interested in reading more works from the participant authors so that is one of the plus sides in reading this anthology.

This collection is actually the reason I joined NetGalley. I saw one of the authors tweet about it being up on the site, so I joined. Months later, the publisher so graciously “granted my wish” of this title.

This is a collection of short stories using poems as prompts. It features work by many popular poets. I was interested in this collection specifically because amanda lovelace is my favorite poet and she has a piece in this (it was odd seeing her use capital letters).

Going into this, I thought it was just a collection of poems and short stories, I did not realize that there was any rhyme of reason to this. Basically one of the poets wrote a poem and then another one would write a story based on that poem.

WHAT I LIKED:
I loved RH Swaney’s collection Lovely Seeds and his pieces were my favorite in this collection. I don’t know what it is about his words, but I really connect to them.
Michelle Halket’s introduction was beautiful and honestly one of my favorite parts of the collection
There is so much vivid imagery and intricate metaphors
Even though they are writing short stories you can tell these writers are poets at heart. Their writing is immersive and makes you feel

WHAT I DID NOT LIKE:
Some of the stories were not to my liking, even if I did like the writing. I could not connect with some, which is expected with an anthology
Since the stories are heavily laden with descriptions, they are slow and it could be hard to relate/care about the characters.

Overall, I enjoyed most of the stories and loved the writing quality, but the poems were my favorite part of this collection. I am not a huge fan of anthologies and enjoyed this more than the average anthology, but it still wasn’t the same as a collection by one of these poets.