In the spirit of No-Fail February, there is another failing I must confess and put right. Months ago (let's not calculate exactly how many months, ok?), a certain poet contacted me about reviewing her book on my blog. This was the first (and I suspect, last) product review I have ever been offered, and I was super excited. (It's like I'm a real blog! Like, an important one!)

She sent me her book, and I started reading it, and kept reading it, and never... actually... got around to reviewing it. Not because it was bad--on the contrary, her poems are quite interesting and definitely evocative of teenage-girlhood. I think just about anyone who's ever gone through adolescence would find something to connect with.

Anyway, I was mostly just nervous about reviewing poetry, which--you have to grant--is the most intimidating kind of writing to evaluate, and I was (am) also super busy (as always), so without an actual deadline, I just kept saying to myself, "I'll do it next weekend." And here we are.

So with that preamble, I'll introduce you to the book, School Girl: Poetry of a Pre and Post Adolescent, by Anarda Nashai. (You can read my Amazon review at that link, btw.) Nashai wrote the poems in this book between the ages of 13 and 17, and then published them later, in her twenties. As a frequent reader of teenage poetry, I smiled a lot as I read, recognizing an unmistakable teenage voice that almost made me nostalgic for those years. I plan to share a lot of them with my students--hopefully they'll be inspired to write more consistently on their own.

Here's a few lines that I particularly liked, by way of example:

From "Another Innovation"

If I were cursed
With the potential to be perfect
I would reject, with one look
Today's existing pigments
That make me the architect
Of thick stone men

--Anarda Nashai

So, do me a favor. Head on over to Amazon and take a look at this collection. If you have teenaged poetry-lovers in your life, you might think about recommending it to them. In fact, I've collected a whole list of poetry collections for teens on Amazon's Listmania, now that you mention it. Go check it out.

Labels: books, poetry

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