Samantha King Holmes

"To all the women lying in bed unable to sleep
because of ghosts of past relationships or bad decisions
haunting them at night
You are not alone
You go ahead and get some rest
I’ll take the first shift"


I ACTUALLY LIKED THIS A LOT!!

A lot of poems in a huge chunk of the book was not my type and were too long and wordy for me but I really did love the last few pages. It told it's own story by that point and it felt more organized to me in a way. I ended up going back and highlighting and re reading the other poems from the first part.

Thank god I finally got to read this, I have been waiting and looking for it and it is just so nice.… (más)

You are reckless, selfish, stubborn, sometimes rude
….
May God have Mercy on your soul
For you are truly lost

Born to Love, Cursed to Feel by Samantha King is possibly her first collection of poetry. King does not give a bio and it is difficult which Samantha King she is in a Google search. All I know about the poet is that she is associated with r.h. Sin. I hate to compare her work to his work but there is a clear connection in their style and themes. King really should give some background even if it is fictional.

King writes about relationships. Most do not end well and leave the poet exhausted in her efforts to keep them going or perhaps better them. Some poems are about the relationship, but many are the after effects. "Goodbye" describes the pain of a broken relationship with the realization that life goes on:

The sky didn’t come crashing down
Air still flows through my lungs
Blood surges through my veins

The "Vow of Silence" is a mere four lines that express more than four paragraphs could. Her writing comes in powerful bursts. The longer poems are ballads to despair, desolation, and dejection. Here the reader must rely on line breaks and capitalization while reading. Punctuation marks, with the exception of question marks, are practically nonexistent. This seems to add to the raw and primal feelings of the writer and adds to, rather than takes away from, the structure and readability. A casual reader may not even notice the absence of punctuation.

King;s poetry details efforts and feelings which are ignored or simply taken advantage of. "Fool Me Twice" shows that the narrator sets herself up to be hurt. It is a delicate balance between giving too much or not enough and to whom the giving is done.

Confession
I hate you wouldn’t quite do it
I forgive you isn’t quite my speed
I regret meeting you would be a lie
The best thing for me was removing you from my life
That, I am sure of

and

To coming to terms with the fact that just because you
Love someone
Doesn’t mean you’re supposed to be with them

Not all is dark. “Devotion” and “Home” are the candles in this collection. Taking this collection in a balance it is easy to see how lopsided it is in the favor of darkness and broken relationships. Perhaps it is a reflection on St. Francis of Assisi quote, “All the darkness in the world cannot extinguish the light of a single candle.” There is plenty of darkness everywhere. Day divides the night, the depths of the oceans or the edges of the universe. Still, the smallest bit of light conquers the darkness. King clearly demonstrates the amount of darkness but always seems to move to the light, if not always reaching it. One sided relationships are left behind. Instead of open rage and violence that is seen so often today, she takes the high road, even in her use of words. There is plenty of anger and disappointment in her voice but she remains in control of her emotions even though her writing delivers a powerful punch to the reader.


… (más)