instead of therapy by Alexandria Stanwyck in Review

For the 5th week of the year and 5th week of my ABCommunities challenge (which sees me writing for a different community here on Vocal every week of the year, in alphabetical order as they appear on the Communities page) I have to write something for BookClub.

As I have written in this community before many times, the plan was to do something a bit different from the reviews I have done in the past. However, as I have a few deadlines looming for challenges, both official and unofficial, and since I just finished this book, I figured it would be okay to just review Vocal creator Alexandria Stanwyck's debut poetry collection called "instead of therapy".

It's funny, I think my wife, Ruth Stewart, bought this book a while ago. As I've been reading Vocal Creator's books and reviewing them, I added this one to my TBR pile. Alexandria is a very passionate writer who puts a lot of herself into everything you writes, especially her poetry. I was already a fan of her candid poetry from what I read on Vocal, so was very intrigued about the book.

The Actual Review

The full title of the book is "instead of therapy: poems and lyrics about struggling and healing". This is a great title that serves as a suitable introduction in a "does exactly what it says on the tin" way. The book is divided into two sections "struggling" and "healing" and contains a mixture of poems and song lyrics.

All are titled as Session with a number from #1 to #86 with the titles for the pieces that are songs at the start in bold and the titles of the pieces that are poems at the end in italics.

I really enjoyed the simple but effective layout. Many pieces in the struggling section were quite harrowing to say the least, but I applaud Alexandria's courage to share the less-than-great parts of her life in poetic form with the world.

In fact, Session #62, which is a poem called "don't be so ashamed" she alludes to the of helping people through writing.

i finally learned something today

i should never be so ashamed

of my anxieties and depression

my panic attacks and traumas

my deprecating and suicidal thoughts

that i don't tell anyone about them

one i could be saving someone

or at least helping them realize

that they are not alone

two my experience and how i deal with it

they're as much a part of me

as all the good things are

and there is no shame in being me

Wonderful writing. That piece touched me because one of the things I really love about poetry is that I can use it to connect with people. It makes me feel less alone and, just maybe, could make them feel less alone and feel seen and heard.

There are so many phenomenal pieces I could highlight in this review, but really I don't want to spoil the collection.

The lengths vary from just a few lines, like Session #21 which is called "it hurts to smile" to multiple stanzas, including a rather incredible piece, Session #69 called "the well".

From the Healing section I wanted to highlight this short piece about self-love, Session #82 which is called "i'm gorgeous"

when i say out loud

that i'm gorgeous

i'm not being narcissistic

i'm finally feeling confident enough

with my body

flaws and all

to scream it from the rooftops

My Final Verdict

What I love about Alexandria's writing, particularly in this collection, and her work on Vocal, is that it is relatable. Which is one of the great things about poetry in general, though we perhaps share some issues, we come from different backgrounds and are of different age groups (I believe), but can still find similarities in our lives.

I really liked that the collection had the theme of writing being like therapy. There is an encouragement in the foreword that if you are struggling, you should not be afraid to get help. So, the book is not supposed to be a replacement for therapy.

If you are a fan of Alexandria's work already or are looking for heartfelt, insightful, encouraging, inspiring and always relatable poetry and songs about mental health, body issues and struggling through the ups and downs this life and being human throws at you, you will likely enjoy this book.

Here again are links to "instead of therapy" on Amazon and to Alexandria's Vocal profile page.

If you do buy it – you should review it, as the reviews make a lot of difference. Not just for the author but for Amazon and other online retailers and may make all the difference between someone deciding to click Buy Now and not. It doesn't need to be much, but even a small review can have a big impact.

5/48