Racing Hummingbirds
A book that is amazing, as said many times already, due to its honest and rather "dirty" nature. I waited a couple years to finally find a copy and read it. I'm not too sure whether or not the wait was entirely worth it, but I do know that I felt close to the narrator when reading the poems. I couldn't relate to absolutely everything, but it was poems like "40 Love Letters" that had me smiling and sighing and constantly nodding away with agreement and understanding. The amount of honesty and power in the poems is remarkable, and is exactly my kind of poetry. I want to feel blown away by the scope of the emotions the poet puts forth, and Verlee succeeds at that magnificently. Not every situation in the book was something I could relate to, understandably, and some things I hope I never have to go through, but the language was so rich and vivid that I felt like I was going through the situations being described and feeling all the pain, anger, fear, disappointment, but also that unmistakable touch of hope and ferocity that was nurtured in the very heart of the collection. I feel energized after reading this one, and know that I now have a little pick-me-up on my bookshelf whenever I need it. I can't wait to see where Verlee's new poetry collection takes me.
