It has been a few years since I last wrote a book review so perhaps I am a little bit rusty but here it goes.
To begin with let me say that I first came to know Marina Diamandis as a poet rather than a very successful singer/songwriter. I've slowly started getting to know her music after reading this collection. Some of the poems here came as a point blank shot to my heart, others brought back to my mind memories from a time and a youth long past.
One of the things I can say to describe this collection is that it is refreshingly honest. Diamandis lays everything out for all to see and I'm guessing that felt quite liberating to her: “The things I need to write about are the things I'm scared to write about,” she says. And elsewhere: “I'm scared to be happy/I'm scared that I'll miss being sad...” Well said.
In the poem titled Denominator she seems to indirectly quote the famous Greek writer Nikos Kazantzakis as she declares: “...my thoughts are the paint/words are my brushes...” But elsewhere when she decides to talk about one of people's most favorite subjects she hits hard: “...my relationships hang/like broken spider-/webs in the sun...” And I believe she talks for most of us when she exclaims: “Fuck others/ Why do I have to bear/the weight of the discomfort?”
A lot of these poems sound kind of bittersweet. They are all about losing something and gaining something else and they talk about the sweet freedom of simply being yourself. They also speak of the sadness and joy of living and the will to change, when time comes, and break out of the cage that keeps you still. As she says: “Metamorphosis/awaits every being/in the end...” and “...Now I can see to truly/live, parts of me/had to die...”
I have been reading a lot of poetry this year and I have to say that this collection was the one that got stuck in my head for the most time. Its rawness and directness really spoke to me. I look forward to reading more from Diamandis. She really has quite a few things to say.
