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A review by sprinkledwithwords
All the Words Are Yours: Haiku on Love by Tyler Knott Gregson
3.0
I’m aware that this book has very good reviews and speaks to a lot of people, but I have to admit I think it was struck by the curse of thinking that pretty language = A* poetry. Some of the haikus were very powerful and unique and new, but a lot were just “Instagram poetry” but the type that doesn’t really mean a lot.
I also wonder that putting an entire book together of these haiku that are all very similar wasn’t a smart move. By the time I was halfway though I kind of wanted to say, “Alright, I get it, you’re in love!” It was all the same stuff rehashed over and over again.
These harsh words make it sound like I hated the book, which isn’t entirely true – like I said, I liked some of the poems, such as:
Your soul knew my soul
long before we needed skin
to spend a life in.
See, I’m not completely cold-hearted.
I just wonder that instead of doing a whole book of love haiku, perhaps a pamphlet or interspersing these haiku into Gregson’s other collection Chasers of the Light may have been a better idea. Or maybe it’s just me. Probably just me.
I also wonder that putting an entire book together of these haiku that are all very similar wasn’t a smart move. By the time I was halfway though I kind of wanted to say, “Alright, I get it, you’re in love!” It was all the same stuff rehashed over and over again.
These harsh words make it sound like I hated the book, which isn’t entirely true – like I said, I liked some of the poems, such as:
Your soul knew my soul
long before we needed skin
to spend a life in.
See, I’m not completely cold-hearted.
I just wonder that instead of doing a whole book of love haiku, perhaps a pamphlet or interspersing these haiku into Gregson’s other collection Chasers of the Light may have been a better idea. Or maybe it’s just me. Probably just me.