Release Date: 12th May 2020
A collection of phenomenal, beautifully composed poems, We Were All Someone Else Yesterday by Omar Holmon is a heart wrenching, emotional poetry book about grief, love, identity and healing. At its core, this poetry book is about Holmon’s family–it’s a tribute to his mother, it’s a heartbreaking cross-examination into his relationship with his father, it’s a reminder of how bittersweet love can be and a beautiful ode to his roots, his culture and his heritage.
If I had to pick three things that I loved about this book, then that would be the rhythm, the imagery and the raw passion in each of his poem. Like many modern poetry books, this book focuses more on creating vivid scenes rather than relying solely on metaphors. With every poem in this book, you can practically see the characters and the places jumping out of the pages–I absolutely loved the way he appeals to the reader’s senses. There’s “El Dorado Is A Taste, Not A Place”, which features a macaroni and cheese roux, commits at least 3 stanzas to simply describe this dish, all to explain the pain of losing a loved one to death–and it was absolutely brilliant!
The poignant way in which he narrates his story only adds to the charm of this book, and overall, the book is perfectly balanced in terms of its emotional appeals–it has a bit of grief, a bit of wholesomeness, a bit of eloquence and a bit of swearing, a bit of rage and a bit of humor. They all work together to add a very personal feel to the story, and also added originality in a genre where it’s rather challenging to bring something new to the table.
In summary, this is a poetry book that I would definitely recommend to anyone who loves modern poetry or poetry slams. Anatomy Of A Prayer, is by far one of my favorites. Though I’ve never watched any of his live performances, the rhythm in each of his poems makes it easy to imagine just how engaging his performance would be. The book comes out next week on 12th May, so make sure to save the date and get yourself a copy–this one is definitely worth it.
Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher for free in exchange for an honest review.This does not affect my opinion of this book or the content of this review. Thank you Button Poetry and Netgalley for sending me this ARC
Ooh this sounds lovely! I feel like reading a poetry book is similar to the experience of listening to an album in full – the story gradually reveals itself
I couldn’t have said it better myself! Especially if the poetry book has a conversational tone, like this one. I love spoken poetry, and many of the poems in this book has the same style and rhythm of slam poetry