This was a really sweet collection of poems that I will definitely purchase in the future to return to and soak in.

I would like to thank the publisher of Old Monarch for providing me for an Advanced Reader Copy through NetGalley.
I enjoyed reading this poetry collection. The poems were beautiful, covering a variety of topics. Even though they didn't resonate with me, I appreciated the imagery.
A few of my favourite poems were: " Calculated Magic", "Reasons", "The Bridge", "The houses we build".

I found this poetry book to be very insightful and unique. It felt as though I was whisked away to the southwest. Each poem is different in it’s message and formatting. I was not only able to identity with many of them, but the poetry revealed a candid sense of nostalgia that I couldn’t help but also feel. This is a quick and breezy read and I highly recommend!

Beautiful book of poems, dealing with a variety of topics, but focusing quite a bit on a relationship. Quick but good read,

Another poetry collection by Andrews McMeel that was fantastic.
Divided into three parts, ("Sonoran Milkweed," "Longing In Flight," and "Eucalyptus Tree (My Arrival to Rest)"), this was absolutely wonderfully done. I thought these poems were very real but at the same time sewn with the thread of possibility.
Definitely recommend!

This book was very much not for me. I think I wasn't entirely the right catered audience. When I looked into the author I noticed that she was known for being a singer/songwriter. Her poetry reflected that quite well because I feel like some of them with the right melody could be really beautiful. I've steered away from works by white authors recently because I've been wanting to connect to my roots and culture when I read and it's something white authors don't always do a great job with. Overall, I personally wouldn't recommend.

‘Old Monarch’ is acclaimed Grammy nominee singer-songwriter Courtney Marie Andrews’ debut poetry collection. Andrews is the title’s old monarch and the three sections of the volume follow her transformations.

‘Sonoran Milkweed’ is a bittersweet, nostalgic exploration of her childhood set against magenta sunsets and Phoenix’s vast desert sky. Several characters feature in the earlier poems: Her cowboy grandfather who saddles his favourite mustang, Pride, and gallops off to Love’s truck stop bar; a grandmother who committed suicide; her single mother with crow’s eyes and a Muttley laugh from smoking Camels, and the ghost of a friend. She describes: ‘Eyes toward the stars, yearning/ for what lay beyond the fence’.

‘I ran from home, the drab depression/ imagining an escape from the oppression/ into the arms of big ideas.’ As she becomes a young woman and leaves home, ‘Longing in Flight’ traverses the territory of falling in love for the first time and the end of relationships. “We are more resilient than we know./ I, too, will live through horrible sorrow/ and live to tell you in a dimly lit bar, laughing.”

The third part, ‘Eucalyptus Tree (My Arrival to Rest)’ describes Andrews’ arrival in a garden of rest, where through personal growth and hard learned wisdom she accepts the cycle of life, the inevitability of mortality and the constant changes throughout her life and the world.

“I am slowing toward the meadow, where there is nothing/ but monarchs on milkweed, a rising river flowing toward/ a land of afters. I will lay my tired body down in gracious/ grasses of gratitude. Once I arrive at the meadow in my mind/ I can make it another day on earth.”

There’s something in these poems that I can only call ‘detailed intimacy’ and ‘closely-worked humanity’. This collection is rewarding on all levels — there is wit, rich imagery and some serious thinking. Highly recommended.

A huge thank you to @NetGalley and @AndrewsMcMeel for an ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I didn’t know what to except but it was an amazing surprise. I really enjoyed all the nature references. Without a doubt I will be recommending it.

Oh my, I just finished the best poetry collection I've read in a while and my heart is so happy! It's been a while since I've appreciated a collection of modern poetry so much!

I don't even know how to put it into words; it waa gorgeous, absolutely beautiful. I enjoyed some poems more than others, of course, my favourites being: Once in a Lifetime, Sisters Under The Pink Moon, Small Ships, The Silver Lining of Suffering, Regarding Nostalgia, Prisoner of Her Time, Resilience, Saying Goodbye, Nantucket Midnight Storm, Cure for Apathy and If You're Lucky! (I know that's a lot of them, but I couldn't pick any less, all these are the ones with the most enchanting lyrics for me).

I loved the emotions of bittersweet nostalgia, consoling melancholy, appreciation of childhood, the dive into memories! So beautiful! I especially adored how vividly these poems shaped images in my head, familiar ones. How it presented simple, everyday moments and showed the need to cherish them by putting them in beautiful lyrics. I felt very touched!

This poetry collection truly made me feel so calm inside and put a spell on me! Very beautiful!

This book was sent to me as an ARC on NetGalley. However all opinions are of my own.
I feel like with poetry it is either hit or miss. For me this but did provide both – only because some of the poems I was unable to gauge what they really meant. However there were poems in there that I really really enjoyed and I was able to write them down as there is something that I would want to read back to myself again. I was definitely able to grasp the narrative throughout they were all very much consistent and I did really enjoy the poem Small Moments..

As someone who lives in Arizona right now, this really hit home to me. I felt so connected to Courtney as she wrote about childhood and adolescence. I felt connected to the nature of the desert.

Overall, this was a good read and I'm happy to have read this.

Courtney Marie Andrews has such a way of writing lush, descriptive scenes that made the poems so vivid in the mind's eye. I could so clearly see the mid-west country side, and feel the nostalgia on every page. With that said, I just don't think that this collection was for me. I couldn't quite feel the rhythm in the poems, and sometimes it felt like essays with poetry-like line breaks. Post reading this, I learned that Andrews is a singer-songwriter, and I think that her fans should definitely check this collection out (as I imagine there are shared themes with her music and poetry.)

This collection was absolutely beautiful and i wasn’t even a tiny bit surprised when I learned that the poet is also a songwriter. My favorite poem was In Small Moments and overall this collection was sweet, deep, and emotional. I’m hoping to buy a physical copy in stores when it comes out.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I enjoyed this poetry collection. I felt like I could grasp a narrative running through it, and I appreciated the visuals and song-like quality of the poems. My favorites were: The Houses We Build, Saying Goodbye, and In Small Moments.

NetGalley, early read for honest reviews.

I honestly enjoyed most of these poems, though I couldn’t give it 5/5 stars because there were quite a few that just went over my head

I went into this knowing that Courtney Marie Andrews is a singer. But imagine my surprise when I go to google her and find out that she is a back vocalist in one of my all-time favorite songs, Invented by Jimmy Eat World. Loved that song for a decade and still didn't know who is featured in it lol. But of course it made so excited to read her poetry collection. And I was not disappointed, I ended up really liking this. In a lot of modern poetry collections the poems themselves consist of a few lines and they tell of something abstract. I've read those, you've probably read those. But not this collection. Andrews's poems are meatier, more grounded. They gave a great sense of place and nature. The imagery is easy to picture, but don't get me wrong, there are still many beautiful lines that I wanted to highlight. My favorite poems are: Before it all, Song infidelity, Dear dreams (very short, but evoked strong emotions), Human imagination, In small moments, Master of denial, If you are lucky. Old Monarch was a beautiful poetry collection and I will be looking forward to what Courtney Marie Andrews puts out next. P.S. since finishing this I've been listening to Invented over and over and I am having a blast.
Thank you to Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Courtney Marie Andrews writes beautifully with often simple words, but elegant reflections of place and personhood. Some poems are packed in lines, others spread on the page, but all are worth savoring.

4/5 stars:

Old Monarch is a collection of poetry broken up into three sections: Sonoran Milkweed, Longing in Flight, and Eucalyptus Tree (My Arrival to Rest).

I really enjoyed these poems and the bright feeling they filled me up with. I love poetry that makes me aware of the energy that surrounds me; poetry that really makes me ponder its meaning. These poems are beautiful and they read like a short and simple song. I connected best with the first section, Sonoran Milkweed, but I think this collection holds meaning that anyone can discern. My favorite poems included 'WATERCOLOR,' 'SEE,' 'GOOD VIRTUES,' 'SHIFTING SANDS,' and 'ONCE IN A LIFETIME.' Old Monarch is perfect for fans of Rupi Kaur's work and those who love summer, alternative country music, the outdoors, and the feeling of sunshine on their faces.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing this ARC ebook in exchange for honest feedback.

<b> The ARC of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.' </b>

2/5

This is Andrews' first poetry collection. I couldn't really connect it, but I know with poetry that's just a hit or miss sometimes. Old Monarch is bundled in three stages, "Sonoran Milkweed," "Longing In Flight," and "Eucalyptus Tree (My Arrival to Rest)". My favourite poems were Watercolor, Drawing Desire and Lucy.

A lot of poems use a lot of references and symbolism to nature, and I think sometimes these references went over my head sometimes (as a bilingual and not always knowing all the ins-and-outs of the English language) and made me relate to the poetry a little less because of that. Also the references to American areas that would probably give some people some feeling of comfort/home, did not reach me. I think this book will be great for those who will.

The description says ''these are meant to be wise old woman poems'' and maybe I lack really connecting with them because I am not feeling old nor wise yet. I don't know.

However, I think someone who loves nature, who enjoyed Where the Crawdads Sing and who likes poetry, would love this book.