Afterlife Paperback – May 19, 2017

It's not often I get to read someone's thoughts written down in raw free form and wonder where is the hope and light in this? And when I find something light after reading something foreboding, only to read a few more darkness, I think...when will this dark and light cycle end?For others, it's an endless loop. Some of us, find an opening and others either, live in denial of this or oblivious to its existence.For this particular collection, I am amazed that in this loop, the author found a rope to pull themselves out to freedom. This was quite a read. This was a lot to take on and I'm amazed that Melissa was able to take all this emptiness, all this emotion and purge it out this collection. Bravo.*** REMINDER that I use Goodreads rating. 4 Stars means I really like it. Because of the heaviness of the subject matter, I don't know if I'll read this collection again - my 5 stars are my reread pile - BUT I'm excited to read more from this author. I think it's brilliant and they need to bump up their release date for their second collection, in my opinion.***

This chapbook is a small collection of poems about love, and finding it after a time of darkness; self-love after a period of abuse. One line that summarizes this message is “Sometimes/ We must fight/ The darkness/To understand/ The light” (page 4, location 49).I love modern poetry. Poetry is poetry, whether it’s a centuries-old sestina or free-verse from Tumblr. Jennings’ form is of the latter, while her command of the language is as poetic as the former. My favorite lines include:“My sadness is politics…” (page 12, location 115)“Do not love these gardens,/ If you despise the dirt” (page 25, location 213)“Crystallising my storms…” (page 35, location 257)“Poetry tells me:/ There are different kinds of light” (page 104, location 719)However, my own taste for modern poetry is picky. While I love and support modern poetry, it needs to have that balance between raw emotion and new-ness – I am not a fan of clichés or obvious statements. This chapbook only has one instance of the latter, when the poem on page 73 and location 469 states “I am feeling a lot right now.” Within the context of the poem, this line makes sense; on its own, the statement is the sole reason poets write poems – because poets feel a lot.I felt like I could interact with her poems – in one instance, a poem (page 68, location 433) gave a question: “40 years ignoring yourself. How many minutes is that?” I got curious and brought out my calculator and responded with 21,024,000. Twenty-one million and twenty-four thousand minutes. This exchange made me feel like I was part of the poem, piecing together a puzzle alongside the author.Occasional poems contain the use of braces – those {squiggly brackets} which, when the words in the braces came together, created a poem within the poem. I absolutely loved this! One such example is: “I cannot tell {if I am}/{Delirious} or drunk. I cannot tell if {you are}/ Medicine or {poison}” (page 77, location 491).I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys poetry.(Please note that my four-star rating is based on the Goodreads ranking, where four stars means "really liked it" instead of the Amazon four-star rating of "I like it.")

Wow!!! Just wow!! This is an amazing debut collection. The author definitely took me on a ride with this one. If you love dark poetry that is empowering, you'll have to pick this one up for sure. Melissa Jennings talks about mental health, self-love, recovery, and so much more. Although I consider this dark poetry, they definitely uplift the reader to light and accepting the light that we are. AMAZING! And I cannot wait to read more by this author!

An interesting collection of dark poetry interspersed with breaks for light. Melissa, states at the end she is experimenting much with poetry forms, these add to the depth of the creativity she is presenting, a something “new” to modern free verse. The emotional topics are very deep and dark, the emotional tunnel that many, including myself have travel through. Learning that the darkness of depressive states passes, life gets better, the light shines. A unique and daring write, well done Melissa!

I often battle with depression, and found this collection of poems by Ms. Jennings to be beautifully woven and relatable.

Each poem is in its own world and I love that. I wasn't sure what style or feel to expect but you are transported to space in this collection and the world created each page turn is beautiful and heartfelt. Struggling and hope mixed together so well. Such a good collection.

This was a lovely collection. Each poem had its own unique thoughts but they followed similar themes such as light/dark and time. A few of my favorites were "Big Much," "A Space of Our Own," and "Pain is a Time Capsule." 5 stars!

Afterlife is a different kind of poetry than the majority that I have read. I can’t put my finger on it, but it has this quality that glows about it. I thought the whole collection was beautiful even if I didn’t connect with some poems they still had a hauntingly beautiful shadow about them!

Forever grateful for Twitter first introducing me to Melissa Jennings. I followed the book reviews on their excellent blog, and had, until now, only read snippets of their writing.Perhaps because I also read Dear Judas, the first of The Dead Letters series, by Melissa that I felt initially disappointed by Afterlife. Dear Judas is free flowing, whereas Afterlife has shorter poems. They are completely different animals though.Melissa obviously takes great care of their craft, and technically their writing is superb. It's dark, and visceral which gives the reader great imagery found in the elements, and on the themes of depression, relationships, the self. etc.The concepts in the longer poems, which are so layered, explore its themes through questions. Judas, and Underworld, are referred to, and these make a reappearance in Melissa's future works. This makes this feel organic, as if Melissa is flourishing from their writing, inspiring themselves.I think one of the best things about poetry is when poets write exactly how we feel, putting their pain into words that resonate with ourselves, and you have that that's it, exactly feeling. Melissa achieves this so well.Afterlife is a delicious, full bodied, collection of poetry I keep returning to, turning over the pages, and I'm sure anybody, a fan of poetry or not, will overlook the genre, and find something in this collection to treasure.

beautifully written, i have put off reviewing this poetry collection because, unlike the author, i cannot put my feelings into words. the author is very talented, they really make you feel the meaning in the poetry. i am eagerly awaiting for more work from this author.

A wonderful collection of poetry that takes the reader through dark moments of sadness through to glimpses of a brighter horizon. The text is simple and beautiful, and each individual poem holds it's place within the collection with a power of individuality - definitely worth a read of this debut collection, and I think Melissa Jennings is one to watch out for in future.

Love this book.

I love the way they pulled me in to the point that I didn't realise how quickly I was reading to read more and more of the story unfolding, and was quite sad when I got to the end. There is a lot of emotions throughout this collection, and they all felt relatable and natural feelings, feelings I have had but couldn't place until now. It takes real talent to be able to relate to readers everywhere through own experiences. I especially loved the addition of a content warning appendix at the end! Can't wait to read more of their work.