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Sparks of heartfelt emotion burn to life in this poetry collection that documents loss, heartbreak, and the path to self-love.
Ink & Ember is a poetry collection that captures the author's intense emotions of pain and grief in 2016, and also illustrates her journey of healing and self-discovery over the span of seven years.
Every poem serves as a journal entry, navigating the intricacies of handling pain, grief, heartbreak, and disappointment. Yet, each poem is also a personal record of learning to love oneself, embracing change, and nurturing the ambition and desire for a fulfilling life.
Ink & Ember offers meaningful perspectives on personal growth, urging readers to ponder a powerful message: the most valuable gift you can give yourself is to begin healing the wounds of your heart.
Ink & Ember is a delightfully illustrated poetry collection that dives into the author's experiences of grief, loss, heartbreak, and her journey of discovery to self-love and healing.
Jessie Nguyen has a great awareness of the way language in poetry works and how to share emotions through poetry. Through the vulnerability of her words, Nguyen is unafraid to bare her soul for all to see. I love the way Nguyen weaves the story of how even though it seems that hope is lost and like in a fire you only have the embers, you can continue to persist in life and burn brightly even though you're going through a difficult time. I love the ultimate message of resilience in Nguyen's poetry.
I have to say that some of the rhymes sound forced at times (examples include think/stink, day/way) though this is mainly applicable in the first half of the collection. As a poet myself I used to do that too - I would put a perfect rhyme in every two lines. However, I learned that rhyming all the time can come off as forced and jarring from the emotion of the poem. Like with Dr. Seuss, we love Dr. Seuss for the rhymes and storytelling (Sam I Am, Cat in the Hat) but not necessarily for the emotion. In a collection such as Ink & Ember, I feel the emotions of grief and heartbreak are the centerpiece, and for these emotions to shine I think there could be less perfect rhyming. I do see off-rhyming and that’s my personal favorite, when two words sound or look similar but aren’t exact rhymes like "mind" and "time" are more subtle off-rhymes but still leave room for the emotion to come through to the reader.
Some of my favorite lines from this collection include, "I'm a writer, I pour my heart onto paper," "if only, instead of blood, they sucked out the pain," "you know it's my first time too-being a daughter," "half-demon wing frowns, skinny bone, lost in night," "Pray for the best-but the damage is done," and "I must let this love decompose."
As mentioned previously, lines like these show a great awareness of rhythm, imagery, and rhyme by the author. I love some of the endings of the poems which lead the reader to further think and ponder about how the words could apply to themselves.
If you enjoy the works of Rupi Kaur and Bridgett Devoue, you'll love the intimate tones of Ink & Ember, where it feels like a friend is speaking to you in verse.
Congratulations to Jessie Nguyen for this newly released collection, and all the best for works in the future, cheers to that Oscar you dream of winning!
I am a self-published author from Hong Kong. I am currently a postgraduate literature student. In my free time, I love reading and reviewing books. If you enjoy my reviews and would like to support me, please consider using the tips function! Thank you so much!
Ink & Ember is a poetry collection that captures the author's intense emotions of pain and grief in 2016, and also illustrates her journey of healing and self-discovery over the span of seven years.
Every poem serves as a journal entry, navigating the intricacies of handling pain, grief, heartbreak, and disappointment. Yet, each poem is also a personal record of learning to love oneself, embracing change, and nurturing the ambition and desire for a fulfilling life.
Ink & Ember offers meaningful perspectives on personal growth, urging readers to ponder a powerful message: the most valuable gift you can give yourself is to begin healing the wounds of your heart.
Each person has a unique artful expression,
photography, painting, or dance session.
Mine is found in words that I'm writing,
a myriad of worlds I'm endlessly igniting.
A million ways to live, detailed and bright,
hardcore problems eased on the page's light.
A writer in love, a beautiful fling,
in the realm of words, where hearts have wings.
Jessie is a Vietnamese writer interested in literature and cinema from a very young age. Jessie's writing career began when she was 7 with Vietnamese poems published in local newspapers. English became her preferred language as she got older, and her work expanded to scripts, poems, articles & more. view profile
Published on April 02, 2024
Published by
5000 words
Worked with a Reedsy professional 🏆
Genre: Poetry
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