Title: To the Moon and Never Back

Poet: SweetSimu

Genre: Free verse poetry

Poems Read: 5

Date: 6 January 2020

Title: 5/5

I've, to put it down honestly, never heard of such a title. It's plainly unique and pulls me toward your book. You might not know this, but back at the end of 2018 when we first followed each other, I thought your book was a novel, and it really reeled me in, calling for me. Unfortunately, those two years had been unkind to me, and I never got the chance to read your book.

I was honestly surprised when I found out it was a poetry book. Nonetheless, it met my expectations, and I'm glad I stumbled upon your work.

Cover: 5/5

How do I say this? Hmmm... Let me think of a good way to arrange my sentence. Well, there I go.

Can I steal your cover, pretty please?

No, don't kill me. It's just that I have a thing; a sort of fetish, for mindblowing extraordinary graphics, and this one looks very delicious to the eyes. The black and the white contradict each other perfectly, and the title blends in with the crescent moon in the background, which gives the cover a professional look. My compliments to the designer of the beauty!

Summary: 5/5

The start of your summary is itself like a poem. It's an outstanding prelude to the collection of your poems. You've tried to convey how much different everyone's life is through that little poem at the end. You brilliantly put forward every theme your poetry collection has in that small poem. The emotion was well conveyed and I was definitely pulled to clicking the 'read' button. 

Grammar/Punctuation: 5/5

Your grammar is spot on and leaves me nothing to complain about. I scrutinized your poems ten times before moving onto this review, and even after all those times, I was unable to find any imperfection in this astounding collection of yours.

Diction + Flow: 5/5

Each poem of yours flowed effortlessly in an elegant pattern. Nothing in your poems made me halt in my steps and reread it to understand its meaning, which is a good sign for your poetry. You have an amazing talent with words!

Meaning + Message Conveyed: 5/5

According to me, every poem of yours was quite relatable and realistic to me as a human. They are rather beautiful and disturbing (in a thought-provoking way!) at times. They all made sense, without the need for logic. They were so real that I almost lost myself into the void of your words.

My Favorite Line:

Emotions Evoked: 5/5

You succeed to create empathy with your readers. The meanings and messages you were trying to convey hit me in my heart, and that is one hard thing because I'm made of steel. So, hats off to you! I've read so much poetry before but yours is the only one I've liked so far. It's simple, it's elegant, and it provokes thoughts in your audience, or say, readers. You've done a great job at this, and I admire you for this talent of yours.

[Chapter Review]

Even though you did not requested these, I'm just feeling like putting them here. Don't stop me from doing this, or thank me. You deserve this, and those people who deserve something don't need to say thanks for it.

|1|

This poem about the two lovers is epic and a must read. It does not just describe the relationship between the girl and the boy, or how they are polar opposites. It describes the relationship between The Sun & The Moon. And the imagery of the sun and moon coming together, that was vivid and made me imagine of all those things the celestial heavens would do if they come together, how harmonious it might be, how beautiful.

Apart from the idea of lovers, I believe you've used the metaphor of the two lovers to describe the connection between people and the law of 'opposite attraction'. Good people are attracted towards the bad, and bad people are attracted towards the good. Just like the Earth is towards (I'm just being philosophical. I know the moon is attracted to the Earth.) towards both the Sun and the Moon, even when one brings it darkness.

A meaning that can be further described as how good cannot exist without evil, just as evil cannot exist without kindness. It is the kindness that tempts the devil to use it for his own motives. You get what I mean, or maybe you don't. I'm sorry. I just become to complex when I'm analyzing good poetry. There are just so many meanings of the thing, and I can't decide what to tell.

|2|

This one was my favorite. Being an avid reader myself, keeping myself surrounded with a plethora of books, I get the message you try to portray.

There are many kinds of love in this world. One of them is a person's love towards a certain book. We readers can go to great heights to show importance to our books. We can quench with thirst all day, burn away in the sun, damage our poor eyesight, get our body numb by sitting in the same position for hours.

For what? To read the books we love.

I loved the way you portrayed every action of a reader. Honestly, this is me. I do that all the time. I don't even bother to drink water no matter how sore my throat feels.

|3|

The girl you've portrayed is brilliant. She's imperfect and you've carried it well. Though, I'm actually sad that she killed herself in the end, all for the quench of love.

A note to all the people reading this, suicide is never the option. Trust me, it's not as beautiful as they portray it in those novels. It is not freedom. Think about your parents, your siblings, and cousins, your grandparents. Is their love not enough for you? Just because someone rejected your feelings or you were not accepted for the examinations doesn't mean your life has come to an end.

Everybody has issues, everyone. Even I have them, but I can't even bring myself to think of killing myself. Why, you ask? Because God hasn't given me the right to end a life he has granted. It's his to gift, and his to take.

Don't do these mistakes that will make your loved ones miserable. God has written hopeful times in your life too, maybe not now, but in the future. Don't rip the book before even going to Chapter Fifteen.

|4|

The idea of scars is downright fabulous. Many poets have used this idea before, but you wrote it with an essence of your own. Those scars that are visible on our skin are marred with pride. They remind us of the battles we fought, and won. But the scars that have been scorned in our hearts are the hardest one to deal with.

They aren't soaked in dignity, because they are either scars of regret or betrayal. Amazing work describing this so well!

|5|

I'll be brief about this. I'm afraid if I say anymore, it will ruin the reader's interest as this poem is actually more of a story. And it's not nice to reveal the plot. Betrayal does make you stronger.

Overall Score: 35/35

This collection is a must-read! I recommend you read this before you die. At least I'm going to. [Winks]

Why?

Because I may die young, but I'll die smart. (Only a few people will know where this is coming from.)

Note to the Author: Thank you for giving me the humble opportunity to read your work. I'll continue to read this book throughout the year whenever I get leisure time.