Wild Embers

by Nikita Gill

[Amber (The Literary Phoenix)]

Oh poetry.

We have a sordid relationship.

I like poetry that awakens my soul and for me, that needs to have very intentional language, formatting, even punctuation.  When it comes to Wild Embers, it wasn't a good fit for me.  And I find it very difficult to judge poetry in this way, because I know that so many of my opinions are very objectivists.  Frankly speaking, what works for other readers doesn't work for me at all.  So here's what I learned from Wild Embers.

First of all, I don't think I particularly enjoy contemporary poetry.  This book came highly recommended to me and while I love the person who suggested it and I love that she loves it, I didn't.  I felt like I was reading the same poem over and over.  Many of the poems I think I would have liked if they ended sooner.  That said, this very uplifting for people who need that in their life.  They felt like they could have been featured on an Instagram that posts girl power, "you are enough" messages as their brand and there's nothing wrong with that.  It's just not what I was looking for.  Especially not repeated over and over and over for 150 pages.

Additionally, Nikita Gill's style just didn't do it for me.  I ended up losing the flow in the middle of several poems because some lines or stanzas were particularly wordy.  Because of the short form of poetry, I look for each word to have significant purpose.  Gill's style is more of a natural flow, train of thought method.  At least, that is how it appeared to me.  And a lot of people really like this, and I think it's a good way to start, but I don't feel each word bore its proper weight.  Again, this is a style thing - lots of people will like natural flow poetry.  It's just not something I enjoy.  It doesn't hit me powerfully.

At the end of the day, there were only three poems I enjoyed.  Two of them, 'Artemis' and 'Athena', are very similar.

If you're looking for uplifting, light poetry with a lot of "you are a beautiful flower" reminders (which many of us do need from time to time!!) then Wild Embers will be something you really enjoy.  For myself, I think I need to start looking for a different kind of poetry.