Since starting university I’ve read so many great books… and some not too great ones. But rather surprisingly my favorite read of this year wasn’t a part of my required reading. In my poetry class we had the opportunity to chose what collection we wanted to analyse and review. Without any hesitation I told my professor that I was going to chose Branches by Rhiannon McGavin. I didn’t even own the collection at the time, I had to order it as soon as I got back to my flat.
I’d come across Rhiannon’s work via YouTube, she has a channel called The Geeky Blond where she shares not only her poetry but general life chatter. She’s one of the people who influenced me to become a poet. I’m not sure if it’s her personality or delivery of her work that I enjoy more but either way she’s a joy to watch.
Branches is everything I love about her work, it’s the perfect poetry collection in my eyes, every poem is a pleasure to read. When reading it I have the book in one hand and a pencil in the other. Ideas I’ve had whilst reading the poems are scribbled in the margins. Some pages have big stars in the corners for the ones I really love. Words are underlined and stanzas and circled. Continue reading “My favorite read of 2019 – Branches”
Lost in the Story 