Break Your Glass Slippers by Amanda Lovelace

Title: Break Your Glass Slippers

Author: Amanda Lovelace

Publisher: Andrews McMeel 2020

Genre: Poetry

Pages: 160

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Summer TBR

amanda lovelace, the bestselling & award-winning author of the “women are some kind of magic” poetry series, presents a new companion series, “you are your own fairy tale” the first installment, break your glass slippers, is about overcoming those who don’t see your worth, even if that person is sometimes yourself. in the epic tale of your life, you are the most important character while everyone is but a forgotten footnote. even the prince.

Friends at the bookish recommendation gave this book title to me as something I would enjoy. And I really did enjoy this! Lovelace’s slim collection of poetry is a mix of fairy tale retellings and autobiographical poems. The style and topics are very much in the same vein as Nikita Gill’s writings. I really love her stuff and Lovelace’s came close to it, but not quite surpassed Gill’s poems. I enjoyed these poems but as a collection, they were very slim. I wanted a bit more depth and reflection. But, I think I do need to read to rest of the volumes in her collection.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Great Goddesses by Nikita Gill

Title: Great Goddesses: Life Lessons from Myths and Monsters

Author: Nikita Gill

Publisher: Ebury Press 2019

Genre: Poetry

Pages: 248

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

With lyrical prose and striking verse, beloved poet Nikita Gill (Fierce Fairytales, Wild Embers) uses the history of Ancient Greece and beyond to explore and share the stories of the mothers, warriors, creators, survivors, and destroyers who shook the world. In pieces that burn with empathy and admiration for these women, Gill unearths the power and glory of the very foundations of mythology and culture that have been too-often ignored or pushed aside. 

Complete with beautiful hand-drawn illustrations, Gill's poetry and stories weave old and forgotten tales of might and love into an empowering collection for the modern woman.

I had been slowly reading this collection o poetry and stories over the first couple of weeks of June. I absolutely adored Gill’s Fierce Fairytales collection from a few years back and hoped this one would be just as good. While it’s not quite my favorite, I did enjoy this collection. We get an exploration of (mostly) Greek mythology. At times, Gill’s writing and subjects are very clear while at others she delves into the esoteric and mysterious. I prefer the slightly more straight forward pieces. I like to really grasp onto a meaning while reading poetry. As many of her collections, there is a through line of empowering female figures. My favorite parts of this collection focused on Athena, Artemis, and Persephone. I find a lot of strength from these three figures. As with any poetry collection, this one should be read slowly over the course of weeks. Binging just won’t do.

Next up on the TBR pile:

The Girl and the Goddess by Nikita Gill

Title: The Girl and the Goddess

Author: Nikita Gill

Publisher: G.P Putnam’s 2020

Genre: Poetry

Pages: 352

Rating: 4/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Fall TBR; Unread Shelf Project; Unread Shelf RC - Poetry

Meet Paro. A girl with a strong will, a full heart, and much to learn. Born into a family reeling from the ruptures of Partition in India, we follow her as she crosses the precarious lines between childhood, teenage discovery, and realizing her adult self. In the process, Paro must confront fear, desire and the darkest parts of herself in the search for meaning and, ultimately, empowerment.

Nikita Gill's vivid poetry and beautiful illustrations have captured hearts and imaginations--but in The Girl and the Goddess, she offers us her most personal and deeply felt writing to date: an intimate coming-of-age story told in linked poems that offers a look into the Hindu mythology and rich cultural influences that helped her become the woman she is today.

I grabbed this one after reading another collection of Gill’s poetry based on fairy tale and story characters. I slowly made my way through this collection. We get a bit of a autobiographical take on mythology, folklore, and history. I was definitely interested in how Gill would incorporate all three of those things. I really enjoyed Gill’s voice and her way of weaving fantasy and reality. I will definitely have to pick up Gill’s other collections.

Next up on the TBR pile:

Inheritance by Elizabeth Acevedo

Title: Inheritance

Author: Elizabeth Acevedo Illustrated by: Andrea Pippins

Publisher: Quill Tree Books 2022

Genre: Poetry

Pages: 48

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

In her most famous spoken-word poem, author of the Pura Belpré-winning novel-in-verse The Poet X Elizabeth Acevedo embraces all the complexities of Black hair and Afro-Latinidad—the history, pain, pride, and powerful love of that inheritance.

Paired with full-color illustrations by artist Andrea Pippins in a format that will appeal to fans of Mahogany L. Browne’s Black Girl Magic or Jason Reynolds’s For Everyone, this poem can now be read in a vibrant package, making it the ideal gift, treasure, or inspiration for readers of any age.

Slim poem put to beautiful illustrations celebrating natural hair. I was moved by the words and the visuals. This would be a great book to have on any shelf and especially those of shelves belonging to little girls. There is such a celebration in these pages. I would love to hear Acevedo perform this piece accompanied by the visuals on screen.

Next up on the TBR pile:

100 Essential American Poems edited by Leslie M. Pockell

Title: 100 Essential American Poems

Author: Leslie M. Pockell

Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books 2009

Genre: Poetry

Pages: 304

Rating: 3/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

The way we view our nation---its history, its traditions, even our distinctly American voice---is largely determined by our literature. In this rewarding and thought-provoking book are gathered poems that have been essential components of our common American culture, from the earliest days of our nation through canonic works of the nineteenth century and up to the present day. 100 Essential American Poems includes fondly remembered works by such familiar figures as Longfellow, Poe, and Whitman, and popular classics like "A Visit from St. Nicholas" and "Casey at the Bat," but it also features passionate outcries from poets like Paul Laurence Dunbar and Langston Hughes that highlight our ongoing national racial tensions, and poems by such women as Anne Bradstreet, Emily Dickinson, and Edna St. Vincent Millay that supply a distinctly female perspective on American life. Also included are the lyrics of such expressions of the American spirit as "Yankee Doodle," "The Star-Spangled Banner" and "This Land Is Your Land," in addition to a few surprises! The immortal poems and songs included here, each preceded by an illuminating headnote, will remind every reader of the richness and variety of the poetry of America and its people.

Meh. I am really not having a great reading week here. Two three star reads in a row. For this one, I was excited to read a variety of poets and styles. Instead, I feel like these are all the of the most well-known poems that appear in every anthology. And then we don’t really get very diverse in our poets and styles. Lots of the same over and over again. And we don’t really get any recent selections. I found a few gems in here, but overall I found the collection to be lacking greatly.

Next up on the TBR pile:

What Kind of Woman by Kate Baer

Title: What Kind of Woman

Author: Kate Baer

Publisher: Harper Perennial 2020

Genre: Poetry Collection

Pages: 94

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

“When life throws you a bag of sorrow, hold out your hands/Little by little, mountains are climbed.” So ends Kate Baer’s remarkable poem “Things My Girlfriends Teach Me.” In “Nothing Tastes as Good as Skinny Feels” she challenges her reader to consider their grandmother’s cake, the taste of the sea, the cool swill of freedom. In her poem “Deliverance” about her son’s birth she writes “What is the word for when the light leaves the body?/What is the word for when it/at last, returns?”

Through poems that are as unforgettably beautiful as they are accessible, Kate Bear proves herself to truly be an exemplary voice in modern poetry. Her words make women feel seen in their own bodies, in their own marriages, and in their own lives. Her poems are those you share with your mother, your daughter, your sister, and your friends.

I had to get Baer’s other poetry collection after reading her newest collection, I Hope this Finds You Well. This older collection has a great mix of poems about being a woman and being a mother. Her poetry is sometimes very sparse, but full of emotions and meaning. I found myself reading and rereading certain poems. I might just have to pick this one up for my personal collection.

My favorite poem in the entire collection:

Moon Song

You are not an evergreen, unchanged
by the pitiless snow. You are not a photo,
a brand, a character written for sex or
house or show. You do not have to choose
one or the other: a dream or a dreamer, the
bird or the birder. You may be a woman of
commotion and quiet. Magic and brain.

You can be a mother and a poet. A wife and
a lover. You can dance on the graves you dug
on Tuesday, pulling out the bones of yourself
you began to miss. You can be the sun and the
moon. The dance a victory song.

Next up on the TBR pile:

I Hope This Finds You Well by Kate Baer

Title: I Hope This Finds You Well Poems

Author: Kate Baer

Publisher: Harper Perennial 2021

Genre: Poetry Collection

Pages: 80

Rating: 5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: 

“I'm sure you could benefit from jumping on a treadmill”

“Women WANT a male leader . . . It’s honest to god the basic human playbook”

These are some of the thousands of messages that Kate Baer has received online. Like countless other writers—particularly women—with profiles on the internet, as Kate’s online presence grew, so did the darker messages crowding her inbox. These missives from strangers have ranged from “advice” and opinions to outright harassment. 

At first, these messages resulted in an immediate delete and block. Until, on a whim, Kate decided to transform the cruelty into art, using it to create fresh and intriguing poems. These pieces, along with ones made from notes of gratitude and love, as well as from the words of public figures, have become some of her most beloved work. 

Next up on the TBR pile:

Poems of Emily Dickinson

Title: Collected Poems

Author: Emily Dickinson

Genre: Poetry

Pages: 212

Rating:  5 / 5 stars

Reading Challenges: Mixing it Up - Poetry; Mount TBR; Fall into Reading

How I Got It: I own it

I've always liked Emily Dickinson and her poetry.  I think there's something about her morbid outlook that speaks to me.  I am not an optimist and I have a feeling she wasn't either.  Her poetry itself is often disjointed, but it all seems to go together.  This is one of those volumes that I pick up every few years.  It's a comfort read, an old friend, a reminder of my past.  Dickinson is not for everyone, but she's definitely for me.

My favorite: Hope

Hope is the thing with feathers
That perches in the soul,
And sings the tune without the words,
And never stops at all,

And sweetest in the gale is heard;
And sore must be the storm
That could abash the little bird
That kept so many warm.

I've heard it in the chillest land,
And on the strangest sea;
Yet, never, in extremity,
It asked a crumb of me.