I wanted to open this with saying “This is the best Amazon printed poetry book I have read”- but it would seem this was actually printed by A.B.Baird Publishing. The aesthetic of the exterior reminds me of a print to order books with a slightly better binding. There in fact even seems to be a typo on the back cover, reading “Enjoyes”. I thought at first it might just be a use I don’t understand, but Google shows that this is most likely a typo.
From the books in recent months I have ordered off Amazon randomly, this is the best one. The tale of a young person crafting their thoughts together this is the best one. I would say this book is actually better than most of the books you would find in the poetry recommended section of a book store. In fact, she breaks the mold in ways I wish more young poetry authors would- her pages are dense with information while still having plenty of images. The book is in fact brimming- in a world where poets will have ten words take up two pages, this book utilizes every page. From the Opening index to the dedication at the end you can tell she really cared about this book. It wasn’t rushed or pushed out, she spent a large amount of time on each page.
A tribute section makes up about the last 1/3rd of the book- which is casually disappointing. Once you get to enjoy her style for 30 pages or so to be made up of the arts of others leaves you feeling a tad jipped, even though if the book was only 80 pages you’d be satisfied. The expectation of expecting more- not wanting more- is what you are left with. That said I often feel I can read a 80 page poetry book (40 deducted for the works of others) in less then an hour- that is not true with this book- and about a fifth of the book is artwork. I actually couldn’t get myself to read through the dedication section honestly, and am curious how obligated I am to do that and still claim I read the book.
The 80 pages that are Kabrie Waters are fantastic. She is an amazing poet with a lot of promise.
The poetry in the book is free form, but very relatable and very good. The one thing I would have to say is that this book is really a poetry book about young girl problems however. This book is probably best for women who are considering writing their own poetry book, so they can see what parts of this relates to them, help give them a template for what they should have to be ready, and an understanding of a solid messaging. I’d want her to tutor a much younger poet. If Kabrie keeps writing, this will probably be her worst book as I expect her works to keep getting better. The book claims poetry runs in her DNA, so I suspect her mother helped her with the book and is probably also very good at poetry. Even with this though, young woman problem’s aren’t relatable to everyone, so if you are considering this book know your target audience- young teens.
One thing that makes a poetry book great to me is it’s ability to tell a story through the pages of the book, where the author has characters or actors that you see change over time. This book lacks that. From poem to poem you can’t find the perspective of the author- is she single? In love? Recently broke up? Alone for a long time? Reading through the book she seems to be in all states from poem to poem. This pattern is also true for family- friends- where she lives- her goals- suicidal thoughts- drink too much. This is fine for poetry, but it’s not how I tend to enjoy poetry.
I found myself wanting an unreasonable amount of bookmarks to select pages to share with others. Again, however, it immediately stops once it gets to the dedication and shares section. Calibrate wisely.
There actually isn’t any other contemporary undiscovered author I can recommend more highly to wait for their next work to come out. All the problems with this book will be solved by then and it will be solid gold. Here is her Twitter and Instagram respectively- though I’d say she falls more into social media style poetry posts as her activity on there and isn’t representative of her printed works.
