I don’t want to lose you but if I do I really hope that we were just two people who had to lose each other to find each other again (17) You kept me hanging on by a string. Made me believe in every word you would say never giving me more than what would keep me alive. You had me convinced that you cared (30) You cared about them more than anyone else in the world. Believed that they could change and you kept loving them even though they never deserved it and it was never enough because they walked away like it was nothing (126)

When I first saw the description for this book, I got really excited because I love poetry that balances between pain and healing, so I was looking forward to the way it could help me feel seen and understood. However, the pain of the past is the biggest focus and the depth it goes to when it comes to healing is quite surface-level. The writing is also very simple and it reads more like a diary or a letter than poetry, which can be a good or bad thing, depending on your reading preferences. I would prefer something deeper & more detailed because it didn't bring me a lot of value like this. A lot of the messages were things I already knew, the writing was too plain for me, and it mainly gave me only negative emotions. I’m not sure how it happened when our love became hatred all I know is that right now I’m sitting here all alone without my friend or a love and a giant hole in my heart (20) I would have been disappointed if that had been as bad as it got, but I might have nonetheless found some pleasure in that strange, sweet pain you get when reading about someone else's pain (or someone else working through their pain?). But even that was impossible, because I felt absolutely nothing.

Discover

It feels like I’ll always be a little bit broken and these scars will always remain because one time is all that it takes. One lie (46) Glass Hearts & Broken Promises does none of that, and that's a dealbreaker for me. There are certainly a lot of words associated with vulnerability (pain, broken, grief, miss, etc.) but they're all used so plainly that it's impossible to feel the full weight of them. Language that we're used to is language that becomes purely utilitarian and loses its punch, and that's the only language that's used in this book.

This was just not good. Someone must have broken the author's heart really badly and they must have put all their feelings into these poems, but in sense of poetry and literature this this book gave me nothing. I'm sorry your heart broke and I'm sure that someone who also got their heart broken could find some comfort from this book and reading about someone who relates, but other than that I don't have much positive to say. Admittedly, if you are new to poetry and looking for something easily digestible, this may be for you! It’s not too convoluted and honestly has at least one thing you can relate to, whether that is hope, heartbreak, self-care, the healing cycle, etc. I don’t remember what you look like anymore. It hurts for me to admit that I close my eyes and I think I see you. I see your face and your hair. I see you sitting there on your couch reading a book or watching a movie but I don’t actually see you (39)I thought of our very first fight. I thought of the way you yelled. I thought of the first time I caught you keeping secrets from me the things that you never told me but somehow, I already knew. The ones that made me feel worthless and unloved the ones that I pushed aside because I loved you… And then I thought of our last day together the last day we were two halves of the same whole the day we talked and cried as we agreed that this was the end (131) If someone’s already looking for a way out you can’t hold onto them. No matter how much you love them they won’t stay (124) I trusted you when I shouldn’t have. I let you in to find comfort in a bed that should’ve never warmed your heart… You violated me. You betrayed the friendship I gave you. And the betrayal from that night has hung heavy in my heart and has clouded my mind (44) Here, however, it served absolutely no purpose. It didn't create any ambiguity and the line breaks didn't highlight anything or make it more poignant. There was no assonance, no rhythm created by line length or repetition - I even struggled to find a single metaphor, anaphora, oxymoron, or literally any other literary device.