Many Small Hungerings

What a beautiful collection of poems. The descriptive imagery drew me in and made it difficult to leave once finishing the book. I wanted to keep reading more and more. I don’t read poetry as often as I should, but this collection I want to keep close to me.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Beautiful collection of poems. The author's emotion is so clear and well expressed through the writing. This collection hits hard at the deepest parts of your heart. Raw and unfiltered. Especially love the Phoebe Bridgers reference in Ode to Punisher.

This collection of poems reflects so many deep feelings that are hard to express. I enjoyed reading this collection immensely. It was a quick read for sure. However, some of these poems have stuck with me. This is a great read for those who enjoy poetry with deep meanings. There is not any funny poems in this one.

Read if you enjoy:
Poetry
Deep thoughts
Simplicity

Thank you Andrew McMeel Publishing for the ARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. All thoughts are my own!

A beautiful collection of poems about love, beautiful descriptions of nature as well. I found these poems to be well done and I enjoyed how longer poems were juxtaposed next to shorter ones and vice versa. The collection was arranged well and I found some of the poems particularly moving and relatable.

Very gorgeously written poetry exploring loss and yearning. Short verse format, so it’s easy to read in one sitting

A very well written collection of poems that speak of love and loss, grief and healing, I enjoyed reading it and would recommend it to my fellow poetry readers.

These poems were spot on most of the time, they were wonderfully written and have nice symbolism.
I loved in general these poems and the way they were written, one thing that made me a little tired, was the lack of comma especially in the longer poems, they made my eyes hurt and my head spin.
I also really loved the layout and it was easy for the eyes to read.

Before receiving this arc, I was not familiar with Bortz. This collection of poetry might be similar in some ways to what you see posted on various Instagram accounts as poetry seems to be a bit trendy right now, but Bortz’s work has a more depth and feeling than the average post. Most of the poems in this collection are short, but I found I liked being able to read a few while waiting for the coffee to brew in the morning. CARRY and WRAP were two of my favorite poems in this collection.

Thank you to Netgally and the publisher for providing access to a digital ARC in exchange for my honest review.

Much more depth than many of the collections I’ve read lately offering pseudo-inspirational instagram content. Very much enjoyed.

This collection of poetry found me at the right time :') in these poems Bortz discusses nostalgia and sentimentality and the passing of time and healing from the past and reconciling with the uglier sides of yourself. I thought that he handled these topics so gently and tenderly and in a way that was so comforting to read. The snippets of nature imagery were also beautiful and tied in perfectly with the themes.

As in all poetry collections there were some hits and some misses, and I do feel like the formatting of lines could be made to flow better at some parts, but overall this was a lovely read that filled me with hope.

My favourites: CARRY, GHOST(S), PASSING, ALL WE KNOW OF DEATH IS ITS MUSIC, YESTERDAY'S ACHE, "MAPLE LEAF, ON A WALK, MID-SPRING

"I press into my sadness
like a door, believing
there is light on the other side"

"there could never be stillness
we simply continue quietly opening doors
making sure no one can see our hands trembling
searching for our way out"

"spring rests its head on the cold chest of winter"

"when it is too quiet I think about tiny things
the stem keeping the fruit from fainting
pockets of light where dust morphs into gold
a stray strand of your hair caught in the neck of my shirt"

"the only thing between us is memory"

It's been a while since I really loved a poetry collection, but this is a good one. While there are some insta poetry moments, overall the collection was a good one and I would read more from him in the future! And by good one, I would say that this writer gets a 4 out of 5 stars and I wouldn't feel embarrassed recommending this collection to someone.

Thank you Andrews McMeel Publishing and NetGalley for the chance to read and review this collection!

Poetry helps me to get through and learn how I'm feeling at the moment, and this book touched that part of my heart. Interesting prose and how the author conveys love in certain aspects speak to me. I learned to love poetry when my middle grade teacher introduce me to this world, it really help me to figured out my feeling that I can't put words to it.

This book of poetry explores themes of depression and loss, and I liked Bortz's discussion of grief and his representation in the description in each poem. I also like that the poems weren't all the same style. It broke up any potential monotony before it could begin, and I was able to get a sense of the loss the narrator was swimming in. I really enjoyed this collection!

"<...> I wrinkle myself into something small—
a marble, a tooth, a pinprick of light, I must become a beginning or
anything without a sour memory."

I wasn't familiar with William Bortz's poetry before picking up this arc and clearly that's something I must rectify. Whether the poem was two lines or two pages long, he weaves the words beautifully, eliciting longing for what you cannot go back to. The collection is an exploration of love and grief, and it certainly hits the mark. I ended up bookmarking every other poem, but "ALL WE KNOW OF DEATH IS ITS MUSIC" and "AGAIN" are the standouts for me.

Many Small Hungerings by William Bortz is a collection of poetry about grief, loss, longing, the beauty in the every day, memories, and a lot more. I have read countless poetry collections by this point, and I’ve found ones that I absolutely adored, but it’s rare for them to make me feel the level of emotions this one did. Almost every single poem made me speechless and hit me exactly in the most sensitive parts of my heart. It was almost too intense in some moments that I didn’t know how to handle the overwhelming reality of it.

It forced me to face feelings hidden in the depths of my soul, it gave me new perspectives on a lot of human experiences, and it overall just touched me so hard that I feel vulnerable and raw but I’m happy I read it.

I absolutely recommend it if you’d like to read a collection of poetry that might hit sore spots of your heart while still holding it gently and giving you hope and comfort in the process. I will definitely be picking up other collections by William Bortz.

Once in a while you come across a book that gets you excited about the present, about those little moments you experience and this collection by Mr. William Bortz does that. Well, it did just that for me.
For example, in CARRY, you experience and relate to what it means to move on, and also to hold onto a moment. In PRAYER, 3AM- you experience what we speak of or have in mind when we talk about trauma and healing, and MINERAL WATER, had me crying my heart out because it is on the memory of a loved one lost and MANY speaks of war.
Some poems have a line or two, some more than ten yet each tells a story, speaks of a feeling, of memory, of love, life and what it is to live.
Thanks Netgalley for the eARC.