Oh my…this is raw.

To quote Blake Auden - “Some days poetry is the stitches other days it’s the wound”.

“Murmuration” is a collection of untitled poems in three parts, (or three long poems) some lasting for only a few sentences, others longer. Each one is a tortured scream of emotion over a lost love. Approaching poetry as a form of cathartic healing, Auden uses spare, fragile words to puncture the page as he shares his constant pain. But as the quote above shows, sometimes poetry does more harm than good. Getting these emotions out on to the page seems to be an almost violent act.
Interspersed throughout the book are drawings, like small boxes, containing short poems and doodles in black ink, deeply scratched circles of emotion and images of Auden’s ever-present ghosts. Mostly we get white pages with black text, but there are also black pages; these always come as a surprise making the sparse words on the pages more visceral. Auden has distilled emotion and meaning down to its barest, most potent form.
I could easily quote the entire book, but here are just a couple of extracts -

“…the word goodbye is no longer carrion in my throat”

“your name is the softest word I have for suffocation. the gentlest way i know to drown.”

There are far too many breathtaking lines to quote; I should stop now as this pretty much killed me -

“the truth is you fell in love with the words and not the broken hands that wrote them”

2021 is fast becoming a stellar year for poetry. I feel privileged to have discovered Auden’s work and I was truly shaken by this collection of stunning poetry. I urge everyone to read Blake Auden’s poetry, but prepare to have your heart ripped out.

I am extremely grateful to Central Avenue Publishing and NetGalley for kindly allowing me to read an advanced copy of this title.

Poetry is food for the soul
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I love reading poetry collection because they serve my soul its nutrients. This poetry collection 'Murmuration' does exactly that. The word 'Murmuration' itself is a concept of flight, of exalted beauty and of numbers. I can promise that each poem exalts, lifts and reveals patterns of beauty. Blake Auden was able to control and manipulate his emotions. I mean he would start with a line that definitely hints at grief, pain and sadness and he would liken it to snow, breathing, life and bravery.
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I think my favourite poem, short but piercing like an arrow, goes thus
"What am I
if not
this daily
surrender?"
For me, this is the most powerful sentence in this collection. Simple, easy to understand but peels back emotions. I mean, we as people all seem to live each day in surrender. We surrender to circumstances, we surrender to society, we surrender to desire, we surrender to dreams, we surrender to people, we surrender to things everything. This does not mean it is bad, also it does not mean it is good. It simply means that one exists.
- I am probably overthinking things again but it is just so beautiful in its simplicity.

Blake adds certain statements and seeming conversations he has had with himself or self-reflections.
I quote
[Sometimes bravery is in the opposite direction to the battlefield.]
.
In my mind, I am thinking 'not everything is worth fighting for, choose your battles' because at the end of the day you are living to surrender.
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I really loved reading this collection and I am looking forward to more of Blake Auden's work.

This book is absolutely incredibly. Full of raw, honest emotion. I loved it.
I'd definitely say it's one of my favourite poetry collections of the year.

One of the best poetry books I’ve read so far. Emotional, strong, raw, sometimes hard and always truthful. It was such a pleasure reading this poetry book. I took my time reading each poem, then thinking about it, dissecting it and feeling it. I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.

Murmuration is an incredible collection of poetry. Haunting, relatable and heartbreaking. So many poems gave me chills and reminded me of times when I’ve felt that way. 

Each poem came from the heart and even though raw and vulnerable, they were woven together with such beauty. 

One of the best poetry books I’ve ever read. Thank you to the publisher, author and Netgalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.