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Reviewed by Michael Froilan for Readers' Favorite
Wake Me (Soundtrack Poems Book One) is a painfully emotional poetry collection penned by the resilient author Jamillah Warner. Split into two parts, Jamillah expertly pilots us through her highs and lows with love, drawing attention to the distressing fact that it's not always sunshine and rainbows regarding matters of the heart. She divulges her agonizing experience on the subject of heartbreak, divorce, and domestic violence. I believe that this collection may be difficult for some readers to sit through. It's never easy to cast light on love's black-and-blue walls, but Jamillah does so with undaunted grace.
What I find captivating is that her devout poems paint a picture of a bed of roses, but the piercing stanzas magnify the thorns that will poke holes in a reader's heart. I couldn't help but feel Jamillah Warner's despair while absorbing her evocative words. For instance, in her poem Fight Back, she recounts an emotionally moving incident where the man she loves is senselessly choking her. She writes: "but his hold is too strong / and my fingers can't / pry his grasp from / my life." Such straightforward lines, yet ambiguous at the same time because they can be read literally and figuratively. Although she delves into weighty themes and disturbing events, each composition comes from a good place. Jamillah masterfully utilizes her dark past to empower others, especially those who've endured domestic abuse. Liberating and uplifting, Wake Me is heartbreakingly therapeutic. There's nothing more inspiring than transmuting pain into strength needed to heal and overcome adversity. All the more reason why I feel this poetry collection deserves five stars.
