Scan barcode
breathwords's review
5.0
Right at the beginning, page 9, I stumbled onto one of the first poems that ever made the breath rush from my lungs. “The Next Big Thing” has since remained one of my all time favorites. Each time it pops back up, I remember its punch and how it left me reeling.
The rest of Nicole’s second book of poetry delivers those same gut-wrenching, breath-stealing, high-chasing lines I’ve come to love from her. In “Freight Trains,” she steps inside my inner chaos. In “Syllable by Syllable,” she picks me apart. Nicole knows me, far better than I know myself sometimes. She’s rolling around in my head and setting my heart on fire. She’s whisky, straight up, and she knows just how to burn.
In pieces like “A Poet’s Note” and “Anchored,” she illustrates the curse of empathy with absolute precision. The way we carry the pieces of others. The way we let them weigh us down. The way we drown so others may float. Nicole is a powerhouse of love and heartache. She doesn’t decorate her pain and shadows with pretty flowers. Instead, she lets it bleed in all it’s glorious madness. She is courage and fire, and this book is the definition of art.
The rest of Nicole’s second book of poetry delivers those same gut-wrenching, breath-stealing, high-chasing lines I’ve come to love from her. In “Freight Trains,” she steps inside my inner chaos. In “Syllable by Syllable,” she picks me apart. Nicole knows me, far better than I know myself sometimes. She’s rolling around in my head and setting my heart on fire. She’s whisky, straight up, and she knows just how to burn.
In pieces like “A Poet’s Note” and “Anchored,” she illustrates the curse of empathy with absolute precision. The way we carry the pieces of others. The way we let them weigh us down. The way we drown so others may float. Nicole is a powerhouse of love and heartache. She doesn’t decorate her pain and shadows with pretty flowers. Instead, she lets it bleed in all it’s glorious madness. She is courage and fire, and this book is the definition of art.
se80502's review
5.0
Oddly, I had discovered Nicole Lyons due to the poem She Will Rise being printed by one of my favorite t shirt companies (Human Unlimited). From the moment I saw it and realized there was a poet attached to it, I ordered the book immediately. It arrived today and I started reading it and couldn't put it down.
Each piece just tugged at me and made me feel vulnerable and exposed. I felt so much rawness and the ability to see myself so much in them. Whether Nicole Lyons writes from personal experience or not I do not know. But I feel like she took a camera to my soul and captured something I keep hidden away, or least I try. I am deeply moved. I know I'll be reading and rereading this for a long time.
I will also be picking up her debut book, Hush, now. It seems I need more from her.
Each piece just tugged at me and made me feel vulnerable and exposed. I felt so much rawness and the ability to see myself so much in them. Whether Nicole Lyons writes from personal experience or not I do not know. But I feel like she took a camera to my soul and captured something I keep hidden away, or least I try. I am deeply moved. I know I'll be reading and rereading this for a long time.
I will also be picking up her debut book, Hush, now. It seems I need more from her.
kristianamr's review
5.0
Nicole Lyons is nothing short of a wordsmith. She doesn't need reams of paper or hours of your time to tell a story of epic, poetic status. Her story telling is succinct. Her love and loathing palpable. Her ability to leave the page and rest within your mind's eye, magic.
Whenever I read a poetry anthology, I always take pictures of my favourite pieces. I capture the moments I want to return to. With 'I Am a World' my camera roll filled up swiftly. I read this entire anthology in two hours. I consumed it. Felt it. Lived it. Breathed it. Quite frankly, I loved it; from cover to cover.
This collection spoils its reader with Lyons' mastery:
'she smells of midnight' - Kissing Souls
'set our clocks to the moons,
and perhaps everywhere and nowhere
will become our home.' - Walk With Me
'I am a lover of words
and tragically beautiful things,
poor timing and longing' - Not Entirely Broken, Never Quite Whole.
My absolute favourite is I Want To Burn. But, you'll have to buy the book to read that one.
Nicole Lyons is the witching hour personified. She is both a storyteller of old and a poet for the twenty first century.
Whenever I read a poetry anthology, I always take pictures of my favourite pieces. I capture the moments I want to return to. With 'I Am a World' my camera roll filled up swiftly. I read this entire anthology in two hours. I consumed it. Felt it. Lived it. Breathed it. Quite frankly, I loved it; from cover to cover.
This collection spoils its reader with Lyons' mastery:
'she smells of midnight' - Kissing Souls
'set our clocks to the moons,
and perhaps everywhere and nowhere
will become our home.' - Walk With Me
'I am a lover of words
and tragically beautiful things,
poor timing and longing' - Not Entirely Broken, Never Quite Whole.
My absolute favourite is I Want To Burn. But, you'll have to buy the book to read that one.
Nicole Lyons is the witching hour personified. She is both a storyteller of old and a poet for the twenty first century.
More...