Read Dates: June 20, 2019 – June 20, 2019
Publication date: April 23, 2016
Source: Owned paperback
the princessi was born
a little bookmad.i could be found stroking
the spines of my bookswhile i sat locked alone
inside mytowerbedroom.all the while, i hoped my books
would spill their exquisite wordsover the lush green carpet
so i could collect them one by one& savor them like
berries inside my mouth–forever a collector of words
Six months ago, if you had told me I would be into poetry books, I would have laughed right in your face. Mind you, I have always been into authors like Poe and Frost. Among others. But I just wasn’t a fan of how poetry was being written in modern times. Until I met Rupi Kaur and she absolutely broke me. That encounter led to me picking up other poetry books blindly without ever reading a single review or a single synopsis. I found Amanda Lovelace in the bestsellers section of my local bookstore and grabbed both this book and The Mermaid Doesn’t Lose Her Voice in This One. I’m glad I did.
Lovelace cuts to your core in a completely different way than Kaur does. While they both cover the same troubles, for me, it was the delivery. Lovelace spoke to me in a way that brought all my old wounds to the surface and just as they were beginning to fester, her words filled them with poultice and taught them what it took to heal.
She begins with The Princess. A young, naive version of herself who suffers abuse at the hands of her mother and ridicule from her peers. She tells a story of a girl who is broken and has no idea where she’s going much less how to get there. A girl who only wishes to escape into the worlds inside her books. (Same girl, same.)
fat
\’fat\
adjective1. a descriptive word.
it has no deeper meaning.
it should not determine
the worth
(or lack thereof)
of a human being.–what i know now that I wish I knew then.
She continues the story by telling us how the princess became the damsel. The author seeks acceptance from those around her. She finds unhealthy relationships and clings to them because she wants to feel something other than the things she grew up with. Her mother passes away due to cancer and she harbors a battle inside of her as she tries to decide if her passing was a blessing or a curse. There is so much grief and pain in this section until the princess turned damsel finally finds herself.
the princess
jumped from
the tower
& she
learned
that she
could fly
all along.–she never needed those wings
The next section is my favorite. The princess becomes the queen. She becomes content. She finds someone whose soul compliments her own. She is finally able to be herself and live her life untainted. She gains the confidence to LIVE.
In the end, she encourages the reader. She’s taken you on her journey and carried you through the tale of her trials. But now she wants you to know that you are enough and you are able to face your own trials.
I highly recommend this one. It will reopen old wounds and bring to light current ones that you didn’t realize you had. It will make you feel.
I’ll leave you with one of my favorite pages in this book:
you were
sent down
from the starsexactly the way
you were supposed
to be —the way
you would
love,the way
you would
lust,& the way
you would find
your wings —& no one
should have
been giventhe power
to take that
away
from you.–you deserve your pulse.
House Of Cats Book Reviews 
I’ve heard of this book before but never thought of reading it, as much as I love poetry, I’ve never actually read a poetry book. I think I might give this one a try.
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