"Letters to Untitled" is a collection that weaves together poems, prose, and reflections, guiding you through the poignant journey of a protagonist's coming-of-age. The narrative gracefully traces their path through the challenges of love, pain, childhood, and religious trauma as they navigate the complex terrain of deconstruction. This collection is divided into four evocative sections—Pain, Trauma, Shedding, and Deconstruction—each unveiling a distinct facet of the journey.
"Letters to Untitled" is a collection that weaves together poems, prose, and reflections, guiding you through the poignant journey of a protagonist's coming-of-age. The narrative gracefully traces their path through the challenges of love, pain, childhood, and religious trauma as they navigate the complex terrain of deconstruction. This collection is divided into four evocative sections—Pain, Trauma, Shedding, and Deconstruction—each unveiling a distinct facet of the journey.
When the night ends
when the night ends,
leave me to sit in my sorrows,
to mourn the love that never was,
to swallow words i never voiced.
when the night ends,
leave me to drown in my tears,
to feel the pain i tried to hide,
to mourn the one who’s still alive.
Never meet your heroes
They say to never meet your heroes.
I've never understood how one could masquerade themselves as a revolutionary and yet be an embodiment of all that they preach against.
They sing about the ruins of the land, failed systems, and corrupt politicians, but when the mirror is turned and the village gathers,
It is them that we see...
Abandonment
abandonment feels like the sharp sting of cold rain, mingling with the echoes of harsh words, spoken by a mother on a once-warm summer afternoon.
you’re left wondering, “what did i do to deserve this?”
Unconditional
the truth is,
i’ve always wanted to feel seen
but never to be found.
love hits different
when it’s given at your worst.
The collection Letters to Untitled is a beautiful poetic journey, going into each letter of PTSD standing for Pain, Trauma, Shedding, Deconstruction.
Each section is filled with poems and prose that come directly from the poet’s heart. I appreciate and love the honesty in the poems, especially the way the poet manages to weave together scenes of harsh reality against the backdrop of a soft image like a teardrop against an ocean. Just like in the poem mentioning “a walking contradiction” this collection opens up dialogue on what it is to be free of something, and how things aren’t always as black and white as we may think.
The use of repetition in chasing shadows “trying to prove you wrong, trying to prove them wrong…” shows the artistry and skill of the poet along with the use of off-rhymes like in “drama/nirvana” in the runner poem. I love the conversational tone and the way the poet presents harsh reality with soft contrasts. The relatable feelings and I like the way the titles connect to the poems such as in untangle.
My favorite poems are, “when the night ends” and lines such as “a different kind of pain” and “maybe one day I’ll learn to stop giving chapters to paragraphs in my story,” and “I hope my scent leaves a trail in your heart.”
Some of the poems just make me want to clutch my heart as they make my heart expand in a lovely way, soothing and yet exhilarating. I also enjoyed the prose pieces starting from the second section. The trauma experienced and expressed is so heartfelt and really comes through to the reader. The feelings of abandonment and bitterness are at the forefront and yet throughout the collection there is an ebb and flow with what setting yourself free from something means, and sometimes that’s experiencing all the emotions and sometimes that’s letting go of something or someone.
I also love the way the poet can write poems with different perspectives or from different angles such as in “choosing sides” and I admire that ability very much. The poet has such a beautiful grasp on usage of language. I also felt like I was right there in that dark cave with the speaker as I read onto the third section Shedding. I felt that newfound hope picking up through the third section and the poignant lines keep bouncing off each other. Finally the section of Deconstruction leads the reader to a self-realization that what we needed was already there all along, and it’s about experiencing things for ourselves and loving ourselves. I also liked the more explicit touch of religious references towards the end too. I would say my favorite sections are Pain and Shedding.
I commend the writer Tosin P. of this collection and I am looking forward to reading more from this writer. I recommend this poetry collection to readers who want a deep dive into cleanse themselves in poems that breathe new life in the face of pain and trauma.