I’ve been wanting to read more poetry and I enjoyed this. Of course, I loved the idea of the sections aligning with each phase of the moon. Brink, asphyxiation, anti-beatitudes, and juju were standouts for me. I’ll definitely revisit this collection.

Phases is a beautiful debut poetry collection. The poems are approachable and easy to read, especially for readers new to poetry, while being lyrical and thought provoking. I really enjoyed the artful way the poems were categorized by the phases of the moon- giving the collection its name. It felt like the natural progression of a story.

Thank you to NetGalley and Amistad for supplying me with an advanced reader copy of Phases by Tramaine Suubi.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review. Thank you Netgalley!

The poetry in this book was just beautiful. Tramaine is extremely talented.
I would definitely read other books by the author!

This is a not-bad debut collection. Some of the poems felt like filler and could have been left out. Some were pretty trite. However, when the author gets it right, they really get it. I think their next collection will be one to watch for.

I really wanted to love this poetry collection, but at the end of the day, I did not.

I am not a poetry expert—I can’t speak to form or style, nor to references to other works or writers. When I read poetry, I focus on how it makes me feel. Does it make me want to re-read passages to absorb every word and syllable? Do I want to tease apart the language, to understand the wordplay and allusions? Does it make me laugh or cry or make my heart race?

Unfortunately, I think this collection fell a bit flat in that respect. The writing veered toward the wrong side of simple. Instead of being spare and accessible (which I would consider good qualities), I found the poems lacking in lyricism and complexity. They were too often cliche while aiming to be profound.

There were absolutely some gems in here, including the poems about ancestors and memory (e.g., “willows”, “lineage”, and “legacy”), so I look forward to seeing this writer continue to hone their craft. I would give future collections from them a chance, but this one was not for me.

Thought-provoking. Soul-quenching. I love how poetry resonates in different ways for different people, which makes it that much more difficult to truly review. Will you find something you resonate with in here, something that evokes many feelings - I absolutely think you will. I resonated with many, but one that I keep going back to is titled “in no particular order.” For me, it’s a reminder to love myself, get to know myself, to continue to discover things about myself and enjoy myself. If you like poetry, I’d definitely recommend giving this a read.

What a beautiful, celestial lap of a book. I am in love with its language and lyricism and scope. I will be revisiting its pages whenever I need to be reminded that the currents of the universe are pulsing in this book.

This collection didn’t resonate with me until about halfway. The pieces took time to mature; I felt like I was reading poetry written by an angry teenager for a lot of the book. The length of the pike a could’ve had more variation as well. This collection could be someone’s favorite, but it wasn’t mine.

This was a great debut collection that will have me on the lookout for more from this poet. There were plenty of standout selections that resonated with me personally, though some felt they were capturing a general feeling. I would recommend this book for anyone looking to read more poetry or just starting to explore the genre. There’s so many pieces here that I’m sure plenty of readers will enjoy this collection fully.

One of my goals for this year is to read more poetry! So thank you to NetGalley and Amistad for the free ARC of this debut poetry collection. I enjoyed perusing it.

I was initially intrigued by the format: the book is divided into sections based on phases of the moon. As such, I had expected poems about nature, femininity, humanity, etc. and was a tiny bit disappointed by the number of poems about young love and relationships and heartbreak, which at my current age/life stage. I just don’t resonate with as much.

However, I did really enjoy the poems about the author’s experience as a Black woman in America, such as asphyxiation and homebound. I always appreciate learning from the experiences of others and deepening my empathy in that way, so I thank the poet for sharing parts of herself in these poems.

I also enjoyed the poems about mental and physical health, such as insomniac and anti-beatitudes.

The concept of this collection had me excited from the jump! Phases is a very approachable poetry collection, perfect for people who don’t read much poetry but want something modern with more depth than the short-form styles that have been trendy in recent years. There’s clear intention in the writing, and I really enjoyed the concept of paired poems, like here you are and here you are again.

That said, this collection didn’t personally resonate with me. I think it just wasn’t for me, but I know there are women in my life who would connect deeply with these poems and find meaning in them.

A few standout pieces for me were Love languages, Instincts, Crumbling, Who Invented the Blues, Tongues, and Long Live the Queen—most of which play with form, where I think the author really shines.

All in all, there’s nothing wrong with this collection; it just didn’t land for me the way I hoped it would.

These are incredibly moving and heartbreaking. I loved the unique format to the poems and how they weave through time.

This was such a rich collection. Tramaine Suubi’s poetry is truly meant to be heard and understood through the guise of spoken word, I feel, but reading it was just as lovely.

I love poetry so I knew I would love this book. It was raw and beautiful . It was a quick and easy read. I would recommend everyone to read this book. I rated it a 4 stars and I absolutely love the cover.

This is a perfectly fine collection of poetry, but it lacks the deeper resonance that readers would expect from an author compared to Rita Dove. The poems in this book are sparse and minimal, more akin to those of Lucille Clifton, steeped in biographical secrets. We will certainly be ordering this for our library, so check it out.

this book was a lot. it was moving, it was deep, it was dark, and it was unapologetic. i gave it 3 stars, because i felt as if i liked about 70% of the content, but didn’t fully connect with the rest of it.
thank you net galley for the opportunity to read this as an arc!

I love poetry collections that make you think, and I love reading poetry written by people of color and minorities. I feel like there is wisdom to be learned from the words of those who face the most ugly, the most hatred, the most pain, in this world we live in.

This collection of poetry was powerful and moving, the kind of poems you read over thrice or more, absorbing the layers within the verses. I appreciated the poem “anti-beatitudes” as I saw my own struggle against society and the US medical system. It both saddens me to know it is not uncommon experience and empowers me to continue being my own fierce advocate. Any woman should read this collection—it gave me goosebumps many times during my reading.

An honor to read your words and feel your soul—thank you, Tramaine!

I enjoyed this book of poetry. Many of the poems I could directly relate to. The author definitely had a way of putting words and phrases together in a way that were unique but powerful

This was so beautiful. There were many poems in here that made me emotional, I could feel exactly what she was feeling when she wrote it.