I Am A World Of Uncertainties Disguised As A Girl is a compilation of over a hundred freestyle poems that express feelings we can all recognise to some degree. Nicole Lyons’ writing is nothing less than poetic art that delves deep into the psyche of a girl swinging from the extremes of passionate sexual love to the suicidal thoughts of a lover rejected. Nicole Lyons is a woman of few words; despite the length of this collection and the complexity of the subject matter, few poems are long, but those that are shine out with an undeniable brilliance. Does the “she” featured throughout survive, or are these words, which comprise The Draw, her epitaph engraved in stone? “Some souls were never meant to be content.”

Readers will discern the cleverness of Freight Train, a dip into a suicidal mind, the analogy to a boat aground in Bursting Pure and Blooming, and the rightness of the title Three Sheets to Forever. Personally, I loved I Have Surrendered on this Night, the suspension of worries in dreams, and Yes, I Remembered You, unforgettable for this beautiful line: “a thousand wild stallions carried my pulse around the mountains of my bones”. My favourite of the short poems scattered throughout was Little Black Dress; fourteen words sum up all the doubt and longing to impress that ubiquitous garment implies. Nicole Lyons’ I Am A World Of Uncertainties Disguised As A Girl demands a place in the heart, and bookcase, of poetry lovers all over the world.

Although, considering the perspective of her work, Nicole Lyons might smirk cynically at being called a major gifted talent, her collection of poetry, I Am A World Of Uncertainties Disguised As A Girl places her as such with no trace of uncertainty or equivocation. There is no doubt she earns such poetic respect for her peerless ability to communicate, clearly and precisely, the deepest sufferings of life, but also leaves no doubt she has endured them first. No one could talk like this purely by imagination.

I have been covered
in easy kisses
from uneasy lips
and I know I
smell weary again.
***
My life can be boiled down
to nothing more than
a series of tracks hauling
freight trains filled with intensity,
and me, the ultimate train wreck,
just itching to play chicken.

In every poem included in I Am A World Of Uncertainties Disguised As A Girl, Nicole Lyons creates a beautiful continuity of rhythm, sound, meaning, and intensity. In turn, while accessible poetry is a true rarity, either sacrificing depth for shared understandings, or worse, using false obscurities to imply such depth, Lyons retains an almost suffocating emotional consciousness without sacrificing the familiar. And, perhaps most courageous for a poet seeking serious validation, she unerringly applies a ruthless conciseness to her creations that is apt to be mistaken for simplicity. Her poems are not simple. They are simply devastating.

And sometimes these words,
they save me, but sometimes,
most times, they kill me,
syllable by fucking syllable,
they rip me to shreds.