Rachel Reviews: The Aftermath of Our Wounds by Iman Martzel
A collection in three parts which leads the reader to many places and through a gamut of emotions
I was unsure of this collection when I started but this proved to be ill-founded as I found a lot in this book with which I could relate.
Split into three parts, we take a journey into the thoughts and feelings of the poet through poems which sometimes deal with simple things such as observations in nature, but can contain more serious musings on life and relationships.
The start of the first part felt more whimsical and romanticised with talk of priestesses and fairies, a real earth mother atmosphere with links to the universe and magic; but towards the end there is a shift which heralds a different tone which permeates Part Two.
This contains more uncertainty and insecurity. Titles like Old Story Junkie and lines including words like "sour" and "ashen" and "Hopeless ", point to discord. This section feels more focused on a relationship and how things have lost their harmony, shown in poems like Lovers Gone Mad, and Imbalance which presents us also with self-scrutiny and questioning. But like Part One, there is a shift in tone to a reconciliation of sorts before we move into Part Three.
Part Three feels more mature, with a tone built from hard experience. Life has moved on and this is shown in wistful poems like Bring Me Back the Ordinary to which I could relate enormously. There is also strength, Dream Came True being the strongest example of this.
I liked this collection. It isn't really one thing: there are poems that have a romanticised tone with their references to otherworldly creatures that feel playful, perhaps even frivolous in nature, like these are an indulgence that the poet has and wants to share with you at the risk of it being twee or a little off the wall. But next to these, you have poems which explore depths of emotion and the pitfalls and cracks that split relationships in two and all of the soul-searching that these times in our lives can present. There are some that smart with the rawness of emotion and some that soothe with the gentleness of nature.
A collection worth exploring.
Rachel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
This review was first published on Reedsy Discovery where I was privileged to read it as an ARC:
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Comments (5)
This sounds very interesting! Great review as akways
Back to say congratulations on your Top Story! 🎉💖🎊🎉💖🎊
I like how Iman organized this so well into those three parts. I enjoyed your review!
Wonderful review Rachel. As always you did a great job laying out the reasons we should read this book. You have a great talent of adding your personal touches and a bit of honesty to the review so It feels like a real human read the book and reviewed it. I did have to look up what the word twee means. I love adding British English into my everyday language and I found a new word to start using.
Interesting concept for organizing the poetry. Youthful romanticism, discovering the challenge and heartbreak of the real vs fantasy and then the mature resetting of expectations. Great review, Rachel!