Books, Learning, Reviews, Writing

Book Review: Smash Poetry Journal

This bookish summer has gone by quickly and I realize I have not written any poetry, nor read much of it. I then recalled that there was one book review overdue; well, not just one, I have tons, but…for the sake of this post, I am focusing on this specific one! The book, you ask? It is ‘Smash Poetry Journal’ by Robert Brewster.

It is a journal, as the title says, so there is more writing to do than reading here. But when I saw the author, I knew I had to check it for myself. I have long been a fan of Robert and referenced his poetry posts on WritersDigest oftentimes on my blog. So this book was a definite-must-read for me.

NOTE: This post contains affiliate links. If you click through and purchase a book, I’ll receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting my blog.

OK, enough already, where is the book review, you ask?

The Review 🙂

This journal is a wonderful collection of prompts that ensure words leap off the page for you. They create sparks of imagination which then cascade into those leaping words and into poetry (or prose too, if you so choose!).

Robert has an innate ability to reach out to the reader even with the few words he uses in the prompts. It is almost like a trusted mentor or friend talking to you, inspiring you with ideas on every turn of the page.

In addition to the prompts themselves, Robert also:

  • includes fun facts about poetry forms
  • defines poetic terms and concepts to illustrate or expand upon some prompts
  • uses familiar forms like the Limerick and newer less-familiar ones as well
  • recommends poems and poets to read for inspiration, and
  • encourages the creative in the reader to come out and have fun!

In Summary

This book is a great gift for anyone looking for a writing muse, not just for poetry. For all ages, for fun, for inspiration! Once you start, you will soon realize that you can keep going because as Robert says ‘poems beget poems’.

And yes, I have attempted a few prompts already and will work on each one, one by one, and maybe post a few on my blog here in future posts

Rating: 5/5
Reading Level: All ages (that can read and write!)
Reread Level: 5/5

Disclaimer: Thank you to NetGalley and the publishers for the DRC of this book. The review here is my honest opinion.

And so my bookish summer continues…..

This was for Day 24 of my bookish summer.. as I take a blogging journey along with fellow  UBCers and other blogger friends all around the world. Once again, thank you for your support always!

Here are my previous Bookish Summer posts:

8 thoughts on “Book Review: Smash Poetry Journal

  1. I’m not big into poetry, with the exception of Sylvia Plath and Amanda Lovelace. But if you said this is good for general inspiration vs just poetry I could get behind it!

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