Heyyyyyyy….
This is another poetry book review because this book is literally the most amazing collection of art in the form of words I’ve come across. LIKE SIRIUS. All the feels.
About the Author & Book
This is Alicia Cook’s second poetic book, designed in the style of an old mixtape. There is no Table of Contents. Instead, there is a “Track List,” making it easy to refer to them to your friends with a, “Hey did you read track seven?!” There are no chapters. Instead, the book is divided into two parts, or as one would say in the 90’s, two “sides.” Side A holds poetry that touches on all aspects of the human condition like life, death, love, moving on, evolving, growing up, hometowns, family dynamic, life after trauma, and make-ups and breakups. Side B holds the “remixes” of these poems, in the form of blackout poetry, also known as “found poetry.” Side B gives the material a fresh twist by creating new poetry out of Side A. There is also a very special surprise at the end of each track. Alicia decided to self publish this effort after leaving her publishing house. She views this book as her “independence” and official separation from that venture. She also drew the front and back cover herself. Alicia is a contributing writer for many blogs and news outlets, including the Huffington Post and multiple Gannett Publications. She writes regularly on drug addiction and how it directly affects families. Because of this, she has chosen to donate 100% of royalties to the Willow Tree Center in New Jersey. www.willowtree.org.
Follow Alicia on Instagram @thealiciacook or check out her website www.thealiciacook.com.
My Review
I came across this book on amazon after buying ‘Milk and Honey’ by Rupi Kaur and ‘Hummingbird’ by Sophia Elaine Hanson and decided to buy it because recently I’ve become obsessed with poetry. (I think this is mainly due to my university course as I do Drama & Creative Writing and have been studying poets). But honestly I wasn’t expecting to fall in love with this book as much as I have.
Alicia’s poetry is absolutely BEAUTIFUL and resonated SO WELL with my current feelings and seen as the book is called ‘Stuff I’ve Been Feeling Lately’ that is pretty damn epic.
The book is split in half, the first half containing 50 poems an the second half containing 50 ‘Remixes’ of the original poems which are transformed into blackout poetry. So not only did it have 50 absolutely OUTSTANDING poems, the remixes gave 50 more blackout poems with deeper meanings which were incredible.
some of my absolute favourites are….
The Poems
2, 5, 6, 8, 11, 15, 17, 27, 29, 34, 41, 45.
The Remixes
1, 3, 6, 8, 9, 17, 21, 34, 38.
I honestly love this book SO MUCH and to make it even better in April the book is being re-published twice the size it is now!!! But yes… PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE (!!!) go buy this book and allow yourself to fall in love with it because you will not regret it.
My Rating
because it gave me hope, 5/5 stars.
Rebecca Reads Books 