Though I am not a big poetry fan (I feel like I have said this before) Raymond M. asked me to review his poems in his book Long were the Nights, and how could I say no; Because when a poem is done well, it can punch you in the gut with meaning.

There are a ton of poems included in this book which was nice, and they are all fairly easy to read.  There aren’t any that are filled with complex words you can barely pronounce in an attempt to sound smart or sophisticated which I greatly appreciated.  That being said, there are a tone of little spelling mistakes or words that are misused throughout the poem that makes it a bit distracting to try and absorb the meanings of the poems.

The other major problem with this book of poems, is how the poems are laid out.  Normally when there is a book of poems, the poems are organized in such a way that it tells a story, or shows a journey that the author is taking.  That is not the case in this, and it almost feels like a haphazard set of poems that were copy and pasted into a word document and published.  The poems almost seem to bleed into each other without a pause.

Now with those problems being said, the poems themselves are well written. Two in particular stood out to me as I was reading.  The first was “Trouble with Shirts.”  And before I go further, I had English classes all through school, I am well aware that trying to assign meaning that the author supposedly meant sucks and is often a chore.  That being said, in my humble opinion, while reading Trouble with Shirts, it felt to me like the author wasn’t necessarily talking about shirts, but the expectations other people have on us while we try to live our lives.  I have often felt like I am stuck in a rut but cannot try anything new because my friends and family will be wondering what is wrong with me.  I was not necessarily a fan of how this poem made me feel, but I enjoyed that it made me feel something.

The second poem I really enjoyed was “Let’s Be Quiet Again”.  This was an incredibly beautiful, but slightly morose poem that made me think of my great grandfather when he was still alive.  After his wife died, he had essentially turned his house into a shrine of remembrance to her, and you could always tell he missed her.

The last thing I want to say about this book of poems, is I truly wish there had not been so many poems about beer and being drunk.  If I had to pick a recurring theme for this set of poems, that would be it and it is not a positive thing. 

Overall – This set of poems had a few problems but if you can overlook that you are in for a treat of well thought out and meaningful poems. 

Plot – 5/10

Characters – 5/10

Originality –  5/10

General Joy of Reading – 1/10

Overall Score – 16/40

Long were the Nights – Raymond M.

Cost* – eBook is $8.99.  This book is included on Kindle Unlimited

*Cost is based upon what the book cost when book review is published