Words I’ve Felt but Never Known by Prin Mayowa: Review

I received a copy of Prin May­owa’s Words I’ve Felt but Nev­er Known for review pur­pos­es. As always, this review reflects only my hon­est thoughts on the book.

Words I’ve Felt but Never Known
by Prin Mayowa

Pub­li­ca­tion Date: 24 April 2019

 

 

This book is for any­one who lays awake at night won­der­ing where they stand in the world. This book is about being afraid to take up space. This book is about the hurt that comes with lov­ing with­out clear­ly writ­ten expec­ta­tion. Filled with illus­tra­tions straight from the soul, this book will make you feel. This book is an affir­ma­tion that your feel­ings are valid.

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My Review

Prin May­owa’s Words I’ve Felt but Nev­er Known is not a tra­di­tion­al poet­ry book.  Read­ing through it remind­ed me of scrolling through a Tum­blr feed–it tru­ly is a “col­lec­tion of thoughts.”

After read­ing this col­lec­tion, I feel as if I’ve got­ten to know its speak­er.  It’s almost rem­i­nis­cent of jour­nal entries; there are typos and run-on sen­tences and all sorts of things you “should­n’t” have in poet­ry.  But this book does and, despite those rules, makes them work.

Illus­tra­tions by Eri­ca Hol­loway add an entire oth­er lay­er to this col­lec­tion. The thoughts & poems bring an idea, a feel­ing, to light and the imagery dri­ves it home.  Words I’ve Felt but Nev­er Known becomes an aes­thet­ic expe­ri­ence and leaves you feel­ing a sort of yearn­ing for some­thing you can’t quite put into words.