I’ve really loved the author’s poetry on Instagram, so I was surprised to find I didn’t love this book.

Might just have been the wrong time for me!

I absolutely loved this and I am very happy I got the chance to read it. Absolutely beautiful writing.

"Maybe healing can't be carried in closed fists."

This collection was beautiful! I found myself highlighting so much.

I absolutely loved this book. It was magnificent and so heartbreaking. The poetry was sweet and mostly sad. It reminded me how words can touch and transform. It reminded me how words taste and melt at the tip of your brain. It's divided into three parts. I read each of the first two on two consecutive days. However, I couldn't bring myself to read the third part on the third day because I wanted it to last forever. I didn't want it to end. I have already started recommending it to all poetry readers that I know. It's a book about grief, memories, and moving forward. I highly recommend this book.

"I surround myself with trees in the hope i might become a growing thing, too."

There are so many favorite lines of mine from this collection of poems. The chaos that Blake tries to portray in "Murmuration" gets to me completely.

Thank you, NetGalley for the arc of this book in exchange for an honest review. 😊🧡🙏🏾

Some of this poetry really moved me and some struck me more along the lines of modern Instagram poetry. At times it felt like spreading a sentence down the page and using too many instances of words like bone and fire and trying a little too hard to set a tone. Still better than most poetry I see these days.

"i look down and wonder
if any amount of salt could purge
the monsters from my blood"

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

This collection was so lovely. Many poems broke me, where I just had to sit a moment and feel.

MURMURATION is written in a similar hybrid-style of Rupi Kaur, where images accompany the text. The poems are short and elemental--sometimes a single image or thought. MURMURATION is deep, aching, poignant, ruminating on loss and love, grief and longing. Though the observations are powerful, the collection feels light and ethereal. Much enjoyed.

"i surround
myself
with trees
in the hope
i might become
a growing thing, too."

“the sea breaks around my feet
before moving out again like an inhaled breath.
above the water, a mass of starlings
twist and collapse in on themselves
before bursting out in an explosion of tiny bones.

I watch the birds beyond the iron carrion
and by now the water is below my knees.
I look down and wonder
if any amount of salt could drown
the monsters in my blood.”

𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 is a year's worth of emotions, anxious thoughts and panic attacks, each one a beating wing in the mind of the author.

This book is an attempt to create something beautiful from this chaos; to make sense of the things we dare not breathe to life. Focusing on loss, heartbreak, mental health, and the impact of isolation on a tired mind, these poems are the starlings that gather above the water. These pages are the hope that we can learn to heal; that the future can survive the past.

𝑴𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒔:

“Loving you taught me more than I
ever wanted to learn about loss, and not
nearly enough about belonging”

The poems and illustrations in Blake Auden’s fourth collection will immediately resonate with anyone who has felt broken by love and believes they have “no futures left, other/ than those without you”. A lump may form in your throat and your heart rate may increase as you realize these are the stricken thoughts and feelings you were never conscious enough to verbalize.

“i still wear
your goodbye
like a definition.

i guess
i don’t know how
to be anything

other
than the person
you left.”

In 𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 Auden’s poetry is full of despair, longing and a sense of loss that is, at times, feral. His work faces the ugly emotions we run from head on.

For some readers, it’s the ability to get truly lost in a poem that draws them to poetry in the first place, and those readers won’t be let down here. 𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 has given me food for thought.

A huge thank you to @NetGalley and @CentAvePub for a DRC of 𝑴𝒖𝒓𝒎𝒖𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 by Blake Auden.

𝑨𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒆𝒕

Blake Auden is a poet, writer and artist living in Brighton, UK. He has published three previous poetry collections: 𝑻𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒅’𝒔 𝑺𝒉𝒆’𝒔 𝑮𝒐𝒏𝒆, 𝑩𝒆𝒆𝒌𝒆𝒆𝒑𝒆𝒓 and 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔 𝑾𝒆 𝑳𝒆𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝑩𝒆𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒅. He is a winner of the Button Poetry 2020 Short Form Prize.

Growing up with a father in the military, Blake began reading war poetry from an early age, where he became fascinated with the ability of prose to capture both deeply traumatic and cathartic experiences. Blake’s work now focuses on loss, heartbreak and mental health.

4 stars

Such a beautiful collection of poems that encompasses a variety of relationships we experience throughout our lives. The only reason Im not giving a higher rating is because of some repetition that didn’t quite feel like a thread throughout the collection that it think the author was intending it to be. Other than that I really enjoyed reading through all of the smart, emotional, and touching pieces.

"i can't keep holding
sacrament on my tongue
when longing is already
too close to prayer"

"but the word mother
is lost in my mouth

because the edges are whetted with grief
and i don't know how to say it
with the gratitude
it deserves"

ARC given by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

*Thanks to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for providing me with a digital ARC of this book, in exchange for an honest review.*

An exceptional collection of beautiful heartfelt poems on love, anxious thoughts/feelings, isolation, and heartache.

I almost feel as if Auden's works are empathic in nature, his way of saying: 'I know what you're feeling. I know what you're going through. I got you, friend. I'm here for you.' The proverbial shoulder to cry on, if you will.

Some of the works in "Murmuration" certainly hit home. Thus, it deserves all the praise!

A great collection of poetry, drawing out emotions by the way the words and sentences were assembled. It gave me a lot to think about, and I will be coming back to separate poems regularly.

Thank you to Net Galley for providing me with a copy in exchange of an honest review. "Murmuration" by Blake Auden is cathartic, raw and tragic poetry collection of three parts that tells the story of a heartbreak or what is left after it. There is extraordinary power in the silent and breath-taking way the poems are written. Although the poems aren't very long, some of them are simply a sentence or two long, they almost-drown you in emotion. Almost, so that you can continue diving deeper into this book. Auden uses metaphors and fragile yet strong words, controls his emotions and reaches for the reader's soul to create truly beautiful and astounding poems. I strongly recommend "Murmuration" to everyone who is looking for a book that will keep a part of them once they have finished it.

Summing up this book: The guy looked like a 16-year-old hurt from the first breakup.
I wouldn't say there's a really remarkable poem, just interesting excerpts like:
"I say I'm sorry and I love you, and it doesn't change anything, it doesn't mean anything."
"I engrave my name on every tree I find [...] I just want my name to be part of something that grows."
The many things in common between the poems, such as the words Bones, Sea, Fire, this repetition of themes can become tedious.
Well, what can I say, I'm disappointed.

Thank you to NetGalley for the arc in exchange for an honest review! / Obrigada NetGalley pela oportunidade em troca de uma resenha honesta :)

"And again my mind runs to you in the way that rivers can't help but return to the salt".

Blake Auden delivered a beautiful, simple anthology packed with emotion. His focus on loss and grief was light at surface level and easy to digest. I enjoyed how Auden contrasted difficult emotions against his hope and longing for the future when inevitably, the pain will subside. He avoided toxic positivity, instead offering very real self-awareness that you can be swallowed whole by your emotions, but just like everything else, this will pass.

"Live with it long enough and pain begins to feel familiar, even comforting".

I enjoyed the images dotted between poems, offering light relief between tales of heartbreak and sadness. It almost reflected the message behind his writing - everything is a semi-permanent state. The poems were padded out enough to deliver little stories and were greatly enjoyable, even if a little teen-angsty.

For what the poetry book claims to be, it delivers well.

4 /5 🌟

Thank you NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for allowing me to read the Arc in return for an honest review.

#Murmuration #NetGalley

Thank you netgalley for the arc

I love every poem and it was so engaging. It talks about falling in love, dealing with love and it's consequences and moving on. It moved my heart and soul.

This was a solid collection of poetry. I liked it enough to investigate other titles by the same author. He has a prose that is engaging and sentimental, while still being down to earth and accessible to his audience. I highly recommend not only this book, but the author in general.

"When you are young and they
tell you that love is immortal,
this is what they mean:
not that it's timeless; they mean
it's undying."

4.5 ✨

"Murmuration" was my introduction to Blake Auden's poetry and now I want to read everything he's ever written! Auden's poems have a melancholic tone that transcends the reader in a different place and time while breaking their heart in a million pieces.

Give me all the poems on loss. Help me bring these emotions on the surface. Allow me to feel the pain and overcome it. Always grateful for this type of art.

"i miss you,
by which i mean

i'm jealous
of the soil
that gets to hold
your bones."

Super thankful to NetGalley and Central Avenue Publishing for the ARC, and Blake Auden for voicing the ache we experience after loss.

A stunning collection of poetry. The descriptive language was fantastic. I really enjoyed the poems in this book. Sometimes it felt a little depressing but as the poems were about loss it’s understandable but also relatable to most people as most has been through breakups and loss in some way or another. Would definitely recommend to anyone who enjoyed poetry.

I truly enjoyed this title with all my heart! I can't wait to see it in stores and witness how well it will sell! I am confident that everyone will be able to find a slice of life or a reflection of themselves in one of the poems in the book.

I love the metaphors in it tremendously. The simple raw poems are the ones that tug my heartstrings the most. The minimalistic illustrations to go with the poems are perfection. Art has many spectrums, the simplistic ones often carry more meaning. Congrats on your book! I can't wait to buy a copy for myself.

My favourite piece is:
i am
a child of autumn,
at home amongst things
that know only
of falling.

I would like to thank Central Avenue Publishing for providing me with an Advanced Reader Copy of Murmuration by Blake Auden, through NetGalley.
I thoroughly enjoyed reading this collection of poetry. Auden writes about how vulnerability is a strength (" maybe we are designed to break/to be taught how much/we can take and still endure."), experiencing loss (" of all the things I have survived it breaks my heart that you had to be one of them"), finding beauty in pain and grief (" maybe we don't get to choose/how long we burn/maybe we don't choose /what the flames leave behind"), picking up your pieces after a loss ( " I am more bone/than embrace/more the riverbed/than the water") and how our losses have shaped us (" we try not to think of the past we carry/but it still finds us, both/ still it demands to be/remembered").