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Scars of Armor

Author: Amaboo

Genre: Poetry

The very first poem hit me like a runaway train going 300 miles per hour. Every word served a purpose and each one contributed to the overall impact of the poem. It was like getting punched by an emotional piston, only the intensity grew with each line.

One of my favorite lines in the entire collection was from "I, Death":

[ I, death, belong with the light, existing with its radiant lies in the midst of my honesty and authenticity.]

The diction is actually quite simple, but the syntax allowed for a deeper meaning. The way that particular line talks about death as if it were this looming entity that exists alongside the light's "radiant lie[s]" was just beautiful.

In fact, the poet's incredible diction extremely consistent throughout all of the poems, with the exception being "The Truth, The Key..." as that one was very direct and didn't have a more challenging .

As an overall poem, I feel that "Epiphany in Effigy..." was actually one of the best poems written in the book, albeit a little tricky to understand. I haven't gotten around to fully understanding it myself, but one of the things I loved about it was the details: ["Eighty roses.../...cold custard stare of jealousy/How your Netherland mindset revisited me twice.../This silver sugar cover of yours is so ridiculous and cliché..."] I feel like there's quite a bit hidden in there that I'm not getting just yet. The word choice and detailing is incredible and fascinating at the same time.

To be honest, I think that's one of my gripes with this book. Poems are written with such strikingly different words, and yet I fail to make sense of what's going on. Some poems feel strong while others feel too overdone.

Advice: Don't sacrifice depth and diction, but try and think of your reader. If the reader can't understand or empathize with the poems, there's almost no point. Maybe try toning down the complicated wording on some of the poems. Make it clear to the reader that you're talking about this topic or that theme, all the while the underlying message or hidden motif is still lurking beneath the misleadingly simple stanza. Personally, I love poems with depth, but too challenging of a narrative or language is a turn off; makes it feel like it's more style over substance.