I liked some poems in this collection and they stick with me, but it wasn't consistent for me across.

ABSOLUTELY BEAUTIFUL!

Ever so often, I am blessed to read a collection of poetry that speaks to me as if it were written specifically for me and the headspace that I'm in. Bad Poetry and This Loving at its conclusion definitely left me with this sentiment. I'd like to thank XPresso Book Tours and NetGalley for the gifted copy.

If author Sakshi Narula had any question about her ability and talent as a poet, the answer is found in this collection of poetry: she really did a powerful thing. This is her fifth collection and my introduction to her writing style and I am impacted by it. It is intimate and very personal while also holding space for readers who are all too familiar with the complexities that journeying in love can bring: loving, breaking, healing, and becoming.

There were so many entries that resonated with me but the one that stood out the most was Beethoven's Moonlight. I leave you with an excerpt:

I cannot abandon myself in the name of love anymore. I tell him I get crow’s feet when I smile, maybe it is too late now. I am divine now; the fence around me is light.

Love, you walked in unannounced
and I am too empty for words now
I have been drought for so long I tell him
But we can try, I can be the Earth
and you can be the rain one last time
Rotations and revolutionswe can spin around the sun and back
for all the years that remain
in the arms of the beloved one last time
I've waited so long for this season of tenderness
a palmful of sand, a little light and nothing more
Hearts never stop bleeding once scarred
I have seen the violence of being the only one in love
I have had to stomach abandonment and the disappointment of hope...

4.5 stars!

I am returning to poetry reading this month because, truth be told, I am highly addicted and intoxicated with verses and stanzas rather than sentences and paragraphs.

This is my first read of this author, which I randomly picked from Net Galley shelf for the title's sake, which turned out to be a good one. May be the author knows more about negative psychology and manipulate her readers to buy the book.

Jokes aside, this poetry collection is not just about poems but also about pictures — monochrome — mostly archived ones from the past that is visually simple and ordinary, and even some personal images of the author.

Sakshi indeed surprises me with her contemporary poetic casualness and charmness, infusing intimacy, grief, sorrow, sex, woke feminism, hope, joy, love, life's mundaness and randomness with her evocative personal indulgence and experiences sprinkled with imagery.

There is no structure, rhyming or rhythm, to these so-called poems, which rather feels like a diary entry or a love letter to oneself — a kind of descriptive journaling session that one would write at the end of an ordinary day.

Sakshi themes her poems based on intimacy, music, sorrow, and hope. Some poems are long, while certain poems are crisp and short, and even haikus are inserted here and there.

In the titular poem under 'Intimacy', the poetess confesses or surrenders to herself saying "I have no more prayers in me, just this loving and bad poetry".

One of the haikus that intimately struck a chord with me: "Names are holy when ... on my lover's neck". These are visually appealing, sensually satiating, and poetically palatable.

Even though the poems in 'Music' didn't connect with me, as I am not into popular pop culture, the author's deep love for music in her everyday life was very much prevalent, as she gives readers a recommended listening after every poem under this topic.

In 'Sorrow', Ms Narula transforms her words into melancholic melodies that is once sad yet soulful. She even goes on to compare "unloved people's life is a slaughterhouse".

In 'Small Talk', she just asks "how is the weather outside the window and inside your chest".

One of my favourite lines comes in 'Moon Poem': "To be a poet is to be a bird on some days, the cage on some and the sky on others."

The final stretch of poems is on "Hope". This is my best part too because there are many poems on poetry, gods, healing, and joy.

In 'Love Phobia', the poem becomes a living entity: "A poem is a protest, a poem has teeth, a poem breathes".

The poem 'Somewhere in the Future We Heal' gives you a sense of hope to move forward in life even if you had a traumatic past like our author.

In 'Sea Gulls Scream Fish' , the poet describes "poetry is a prayer ... poems are spells ... from magic place". She then says "it is the poem that finds the poet, who is a portal not a source".

Overall, this is yet another unique poetry read for me. It is because the poem and the poetess are both are all authentic, true, internal, original, and unfiltered — voicing her opinions on various issues, be it personal, social, or emotional.

Glad, I picked the book and found an author with deep, nuanced, and philosophical yet practical outlook on humans and their emotions in a new yet personal perspective.

I really liked this book of poems. It has a little bit of everything. Some poems are long, some are medium length, and some are 2 lines long. The book is split into 4 sections. All the poems in the Music section come with a recommended song pairing. There are also photos of the author scattered throughout the book as well. Overall, a great book!