In this collection, Owen Bryan Jr. seeks to motivate and uplift his reader through poems inspired by personal struggles, life’s lessons and words he has read or heard. 

Bryan Jr’s experience is a relatable one and his poems often address the reader to remind us the speaker’s words are for us too. He sets out to remind his reader they are not alone.

In the opening acknowledgements, Owen Bryan Jr. states that in the past, it has been said his poetry has the quality of words delivered by a motivational speaker. Although Bryan Jr’s desire to motivate is undeniable, it meant the ‘poems’ felt constructed as talking points, opinion pieces and soundbites. For me, very few of the pieces felt or read like poetry; this is not because I hold poetry on a pedestal to be formulaic and rhythmic, but I do expect fluidity, variety and originality. Many of the pieces merged into one by the end. The message of motivation became repetitive as the writing lacked creativity and style.

I also felt the term ‘motivational speaker’ soon transformed into ‘preacher’. Bryan Jr’s wish to explain how many of the pieces should be interpreted removed agency from the reader. Moreover, the archaic use of you and your (thy, thou and thee) felt superfluous. Or, Bryan Jr. was attempting to capture a biblical weight in his words which felt incredibly misplaced.

Thus, although Bryan Jr’s intentions are wholesome and hold the reader as integral, the execution was lacking the originality and space required for a reader to feel truly inspired. When reading Observation of the Moment I felt spoken at rather than spoken with.