Publishing date: 27.04.2023
Thank you to NetGalley and Poets Choice for the ARC. My opinions are my own.

Negatives:
Wish it was written from the perspective of someone homeless or has been homeless
A little too short
Poem length felt really restricted

Positives:
Gives a little more insight on homelessness
Very emotional and dour

Features:
49 short poems all in the same style and length, features different perspectives of the homeless, mixed optimism and sadness

Why did I choose this one?
I thought that poems centered around homelessness would be interesting and heartbreaking to read. I am also trying to expand my reading horizons. Stepping into a theme like this through poems felt like a good choice.

Pick-up-able? Put-down-able?
Pick-up-able. This is a really short book with really short poems. You can read this all in a single sitting. I personally didn't, but I believe I could if it was more catching

What was the vibe and mood?
Hopeless. Depressed. A little pinch of hope and optimism.

Final ranking and star rating?
D tier, 2 stars. I could not connect or "feel for" this collection as much as I wanted to. The restricted length of each poem didn't help. It is very clear that the author has not been / is homeless and can't get that personal, up and close view of homelessness. Certain poems also ruffled my feathers for unknown reasons, a little like a bad pit in my stomach.
Sadly a miss, but others might connect more to the collection.

This book is so beautiful and so true. Hunger and homelessness kinda go hand in hand. Been there done that and it's HARD. The life is hard and scary. If I have money I would be sharing it with these beautiful people in the world today.
I just wish people would stop being so.scared of homeless people and try to find a way to help them. Yes they can be down right scary but think about it, how.will they.survive?? They.are notreally.scary at all its just how.they.defend themselves from being whatever. They.are just people like u, just help them , scary or not. Give.them the jacket off your back, they will be forever.grateful and you will be forever remembered in their hearts.

Beautifully written and a mustread!

I received. A free copy of the book and is voluntarily writing a review

Thoughts:
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily. This book covers so many different stories and perspectives in so few pages. It really is heartbreaking to think about and hopefully helps people develop compassion. Poems such as History and Hearse show stories that many may not have even thought about before.

Favourite Quote:
"Homes burned and acres scorched.
Hurt firemen paid a price.
Hunger's clutch, affects all."

Love poetry, but felt the poems restricted expression by being a certain length. Didn’t get to see the people in the poem.

Thank you to netgalley, the author and publisher for the chance to read this collection,

47 Hedge
He always loved his books.
Hedges of library
hides him for the moment.
His belly growls for bread.
His mind so craves stories.
Has no money for lunch.
He feasts, on books instead.

5⭐ Thank you NetGalley for the Advance Reader copy. I absolutely loved this, I've been homeless myself and I really appreciate what the author did here. Its short and sweet but doesn't fail at what it's trying to do; it put the message across easily for people who've never experienced homelessness. Wonderful conversation starter.

So, as someone who has been homeless, It's obvious this person wrote from the perspective of not being homeless and just helping the homeless for one, another is it was incredibly short and a lot of the poems just weren't for me. I would have preferred reading poetry by someone who has experienced homelessness, I knew that likely wasn't the case going in, but I did think I'd enjoy it more than I did. Some of the poems just rubbed me the wrong way and it was hard for me to know why but it was fine. I wouldn't recommend it but I don't regret reading it. I also wouldn't discourage people from reading it who really wanted to either. This isn't a negative rating, the poems were well constructed, this just wasn't for me. If I went on how much I enjoyed it, I'd have rated it lower but I could see the merit in the writing and construction giving it a higher rating. I could see what the author was trying to do I just don't think it got there.

Homelessness, written by Crystal E. Barker, is a thought provoking book of poetry that I greatly enjoyed! I did not know much about this book when I requested it, but the title caught my attention. There is so much symbolism in this book, each title and stanza starts with the letter H just like the book, and the different poems help the reader explore different stories of individuals experiencing homelessness. I loved this book, and will definitely recommend it to anyone interested in a book that will help open their eyes to the experiences of others experiencing poverty and homelessness. Thank you to NetGalley, and to the author and publisher of this book for an ARC of this book in exchange for an honest review.

This clearly wasn't for me. I thought this would be really interesting and elegant poetry but all the poems were the same length and they all very little written statements of facts.

A short read, however thought provoking.

I will admit I’ve have never read a poetry book, so I appreciated the brief explanation of the layout and why it was used.

Some of the poems were heart breaking and could relate to a couple of them so could feel the pain of the situation - I was a child in care and had a bad mental health episode back in 2017 where my hygiene was really poor and self medicated with alcohol.

Each poem I could really picture the situation and felt the feelings that one may be feeling such as hunger, feeling lost, even broken.

It’s an eye opener for sure, and think people should read this. As it’s educational but via short poetry.

Thank you to NetGallery for providing me the opportunity to read this wonderful eye opening book.

#Homelessness #NetGalley.