This is an anthology that will help you cry and soothe you at the same time!
I have been subscribed to poets.org for the longest time. Not only am I a huge fan of the poems they send, but it is amazing to be be able to go and read a poem on the site. Sometimes your heart needs a certain poem and it’s fantastic to be able to access it so quickly! When I found out that this book was being published by the same people, I knew it would be amazing and reading it did not change my mind!
The anthology is split into five sections, each covering an overarching theme such as grief, the body, desire, etc. It took me a few minutes to understand but when I did I fell in love with the titles of these sections! I think I was slow on the uptake because the only one I was immediately familiar with was ‘Practice Losing Further, Losing Faster.’
This review is not very objective, because as it so happens I needed the third and the fifth poems quite badly. And while the book had quite a few that I've read before and loved, I was also introduced to some fantastic new ones that I'll turn to in the future!
I should also admit that I prefer anthologies like this one over collections that are purely one poet. If you really love a poet I'm sure you'll love an entire book comprised of just them, but anthologies such as this one are the ones that give you comfort and introduce you to those poets. To steal the music analogy from this book, sometimes an entire album by an artist might not work for you, but a song by them on the right playlist will!