Bad Poetry And This Loving - Book Review

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Posted 2023-08-10 by Steven G ⇒ follow

I was recently offered an Advanced Reader Copy of a book. This is because I have reviewed a number of books by this author before, and have enjoyed them. As such, I went into this rather enthusiastically.

The author is Sakshi Narula and the book is Bad Poetry And This Loving. It is the fifth book of her poetry that I have reviewed.

All images come from the book itself, with kind permission from Sakshi. SHe is the woman in the images.

All page numbers are from the ARC I received.

In my conversation with Sakshi, she indicated this is her last poetry book for the foreseeable future, and that is a shame, but she is going out in style.

Yes, this is an amazing book and a fine addition to her bibliography.

As usual, the poetry in this book is based on emotion. There are a lot more prose poems in this than in previous books, and that makes it instantly different to what has come before.

The book is filled throughout with classic photographs and some other pictures that are of ordinary people. These seem to have been used as prompts or to illustrate what the poems say.

In the past, I have detailed the poems I like, but very few here have actual titles, and some are no more than a couple of lines. That is not to say they are not good, because they are, but it does make this feel like a more concrete whole, more related to one another. The other books have had thematic ideals throughout, and this maybe does not feel like it has the same unifying aspect, but the presentation makes it feel like it is definitely one solid work.

Of course, some poems really stood out.

This one spoke to me, a simple two-line poem:
"There is room for everyone under the sun
There is a Beatles song for everyone" (p.52)

That something so simple could make me take pause and smile and think I would put that on a t-shirt one day says something about the way she writes.

On the topic of The Beatles, the prose poem ‘Lennon Died’ is stunning. It is a prose poem piece and it is so filled with sadness, and yet there is hope there as well.

‘Foccacia Bread’ is another favourite. A poem of longing and loss, and doing things on automatic pilot. These lines stood out:
“Listen to Alanis Morrisette, drown baby drown and repeat
French press and repeat

Read a poem by Ada Limon, say thank you and repeat
Read a poem by Leonard Cohen, say thank you and repeat

Because no one is coming to save you
say thank you times three and repeat

I know I should’ve stopped loving him
because he said many years down the line I will” (p.83)

Another poem that really got me was ‘100 Apples of Beloved Solitude’, especially these lines:
“I wrote five hundred poems about the last one I loved and he still didn’t know how to love me back
I wrote five hundred poems about him and he didn’t blink even once or write back” (p.96)
Replace one with ones, and that’s me.

There are a lot of allusions to songs and music as well as the normal love and nature elements, and that is something else that makes this collection feel different to those that have come before. Now, as in most collections, not everything works for me, but they could well work for others. That is the joy of poetry. We, as readers, can see in the works what we want to see, and if it does not speak to us, then there will be something later on that will. In general, though, I enjoyed this so much.

All up, this is a strong collection from a woman who has become my favourite modern poet. I am one who prefers traditional rhyming poetry, and yet I can get into Sakshi’s work on a much more emotional and deeper level than I can with many other poets.

If this is the last poetry collection she will write, she has ended on a high. This is a fine collection of poems, and there is something for everyone within its pages. Yes, it is focused on love and having someone to love, but there is something universal about the way she tackles the topic and everything she associates with it.