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She Was The Storm
this book of poetry is for you. the broken hearted soul in need of encouragement. let me remind you who you truly are. you are the power of nature, waiting to take the world by storm. this book of poetry will be the fire that ignites your soul and passion for life.
111 pages, Kindle Edition
Published October 9, 2018
277 people are currently reading
2608 people want to read
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June 8, 2022
is this what love
is supposed to feel like
or am i
just desperately trying
to justify the way
you treat me
because i'm too afraid
to let go
is supposed to feel like
or am i
just desperately trying
to justify the way
you treat me
because i'm too afraid
to let go
September 14, 2019
If I scrolled down a single stream of social media I would find this book. Mine, yours, it doesn't matter. Pages which post encouragements and empowering statements found on random profiles that are intended to promote strength, solidarity or resilience are the heart of this book.
Let me make myself clear: I'm not bashing those sentiments. What I'm saying is that She Was The Storm is a constant supply of such encouragements, and it has absolutely no impact for me because the poetry has absolutely no uniqueness. If I can acquire the same thing, for free no less, on any platform purely by accident or from mindlessly scrolling on social media then why do I need this book?
I wouldn't mind if the poetry was actually different, if it portrayed these sentiments in a new or creative way, but most of them are genuinely 3 lines of empowerment. I saw someone else describe this book as just, "Meh". And I get it. It's so Meh.
Let me make myself clear: I'm not bashing those sentiments. What I'm saying is that She Was The Storm is a constant supply of such encouragements, and it has absolutely no impact for me because the poetry has absolutely no uniqueness. If I can acquire the same thing, for free no less, on any platform purely by accident or from mindlessly scrolling on social media then why do I need this book?
I wouldn't mind if the poetry was actually different, if it portrayed these sentiments in a new or creative way, but most of them are genuinely 3 lines of empowerment. I saw someone else describe this book as just, "Meh". And I get it. It's so Meh.
December 29, 2019
The overall reviews for this collection are mixed. What I will say is if you are looking for poetry that is short, simple but is effective at getting to the point, then pick up a copy of She Was The Storm. Yes the ideas and moods have been used in other collections. But sometimes, we all need a gentle read to enjoy.
January 18, 2019
Meh.
Generic.
Generic.
June 6, 2022
felt like tumblr quotes instead of something heartfelt
May 28, 2022
I've read some really mixed reviews on this book but I really enjoyed it. Great to read poetry again.
August 20, 2019
Poetry is a really personal thing which makes books like this difficult to review, this just did not feel written from the heart though. To me it reads more like a book of clichés and borrowed lines and unfortunately didn't stir any kind of emotion in me.
December 22, 2020
This is simply lazy poetry, if you can even call it poetry. Basic girls' Instagram captions have more meaning than these "poems" do. I am thoroughly disappointed. It is clear to me now that this book is a cash grab to get people who want to look "deep" to buy this book. This is an insult to the art form of poetry and to real poets who put time and effort into their work.
January 30, 2022
I've read other reviews before posting mine, how this wasn't really poetry from the heart and things that are simply motoivational but the author really said that's what this poem book was. It's for the broken hearted and those who needed a push. Some of these things I needed to hear but I do wish there were more that came from the author's heart.
If you need a small push and need words of encouragement, definitely read this.
Edit: I read it again and ugh, I dont know I wanted to give it another chance tbh.
If you need a small push and need words of encouragement, definitely read this.
Edit: I read it again and ugh, I dont know I wanted to give it another chance tbh.
July 10, 2020
Beautiful, but felt lacking in places.
A beautiful, short read but wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. Felt more like a motivational read, rather than a book of poetry.
A beautiful, short read but wasn’t quite what I was hoping for. Felt more like a motivational read, rather than a book of poetry.
Read
February 23, 2023❧ poetry review
the passion between us
burned hot and fast
it felt like a fairytale
that should’ve been my first
warning sign;
This is a quick read of uplifting, kind-hearted poems!
☆ My Book Reviews | Indie Book Twitter | Indie Book Instagram ☆
the passion between us
burned hot and fast
it felt like a fairytale
that should’ve been my first
warning sign;
This is a quick read of uplifting, kind-hearted poems!
☆ My Book Reviews | Indie Book Twitter | Indie Book Instagram ☆
July 18, 2020
"Never stop believing in yourself"
The types of poems that we encounter through this book are just like the one above. I am not saying that they are not important, maybe they are important for the author, and helped to get through something in their life, but it felt just like I was scrolling through social media and found those types of motivational quotes but all in one book, it did not felt personal, sincere and coming from the heart, like someone sharing their story, their struggles with a public, which is usually what I am looking for in poetry, it felt very superficial so I am a bit disappointed by that. I think that it is just not what I was expecting when going through this book, some poems are great, others just quotes that we see all the time on social media.
The types of poems that we encounter through this book are just like the one above. I am not saying that they are not important, maybe they are important for the author, and helped to get through something in their life, but it felt just like I was scrolling through social media and found those types of motivational quotes but all in one book, it did not felt personal, sincere and coming from the heart, like someone sharing their story, their struggles with a public, which is usually what I am looking for in poetry, it felt very superficial so I am a bit disappointed by that. I think that it is just not what I was expecting when going through this book, some poems are great, others just quotes that we see all the time on social media.
May 11, 2020
Okay is this actually considered poetry?? A lot of the entries are one sentence “quotes.” And some I noticed are stolen. There was nothing poetic about this. Just someone trying to give life advice using a short quote and calling it poetry.
October 14, 2021
This was more a book of cute encouraging statements than poems, which isn't a bad thing, it just wasn't what I expected. It's nothing spectacular or mind blowing, but it was cute
It's mixed with little snippets to the person who broke the author's heart though and I felt like I was getting whiplash going back and forth between "you are worthy of healing" and "when you meant everything to me, I meant nothing to you" because of the vagueness of the "you." I never knew at the start if "you" was the person who did the breaking or if it was me, and it was confusing to have to adjust/figure it out every time
All in all, a sweet little book though ❤️
It's mixed with little snippets to the person who broke the author's heart though and I felt like I was getting whiplash going back and forth between "you are worthy of healing" and "when you meant everything to me, I meant nothing to you" because of the vagueness of the "you." I never knew at the start if "you" was the person who did the breaking or if it was me, and it was confusing to have to adjust/figure it out every time
All in all, a sweet little book though ❤️
December 31, 2019
I enjoyed reading this, it went well with what I'm dealing with now.
February 23, 2022
she was a book but he couldnt read 🤓😭💔🤕
November 11, 2021
this book of poetry is for you. the broken hearted soul in need of
encouragement. let me remind you who you truly are. you are the power
of nature, waiting to take the world by storm.
This book is so beautiful as well as heart touching.
encouragement. let me remind you who you truly are. you are the power
of nature, waiting to take the world by storm.
This book is so beautiful as well as heart touching.
August 11, 2022
Beautiful poetry, though it sometimes felt a little flat and something a bit more used! I do recommend this if you want a short poetry book.
June 3, 2022
citati za instagram ne poezija 💔
February 20, 2023
Beautiful cover but I am disappointed with the content. Everything seems so repeated from what we already read online.
November 3, 2022
giving up on ku poetry
January 5, 2021
do not resent yourself for how slowly you are healing it takes time and you need to remember that.
Read
January 5, 2021i don't know why i'm so into reading bad poetry. anyway one star
August 24, 2021
• The writing is more on the average side.
• But nonetheless heartbreakingly beautiful!
• But nonetheless heartbreakingly beautiful!
October 23, 2023
One of the first modern poetry collections I ever read. Most of them were okay but there were a few in here where I thought "wow" - would recommend
February 12, 2021
She Was The Storm is a collection of poetry by Cherie Avritt. It has four chapters -- woman, lessons, hurricane, and storm. Each has it's particular theme, all culminating in the general view that "you are the power of nature, waiting to take the world by storm." My outlook on the book is basically that it could have been great but isn't.
I have seen a few critiques of the work which I agree with on varying levels. 1: the poems are sentence-long inspirational nothings capable of being collected by scrolling through Instagram hashtags. 2: the narrator is generally passive. 3: they do not 'show' the conveyed message.
The first critique is right in saying the poems are simple, usually only a sentence in length, and uneventful enough. I can write one:
But what I think it misses about the book is the structure of the work itself. It is like one long poem; looking at it as a single poem reduces the meaning behind things seemingly added for a purpose, like the chapter titles and the author's repetition. Chapter 2 is a case study for what I mean. First, we learn the author wants to write lessons. Most of them are humdrum and idealistic; they are things to be hung up by corporate in order to shame you into feeling like all your problems come from the lack of unpaid overtime. But, as we progress, we begin to see poems like this: "i cannot protect my heart from the whims of your love you only love me back when it suits you." It forces us to ask, 'what does this have to do with lessons?' We are greeted with universal poems ("love never dies. it is only reborn"), and poems pointed at the reader ("never forget that you are good enough"), but never poems taking so strongly the mantle of "i." It seems strange -- strange, until we realize that the lessons are not merely lessons for someone else, but ones our protagonist has learned about themselves. I find it poignant; it is personal, conveying the acceptance of an idea about a troubling personal experience simply, unheedful of additional contextualization (someone thinking this must, I imagine, already know this anyway); it is like a sudden sobering-up. The lack of substance which the poems contain are a strength in Chapter 2. If we must say they do not show anything, but tell us everything, then we might also say that the book is similar to a rough draft or diary -- only the themes expounded, the author not yet having written the meat of the poems -- and that is what I find to be strong in this chapter. As I alluded to earlier, there is an attempt to connect the chapters together. Unfortunately, the poems are usually not diverse enough in content to make the crescendo (in other words, the building of the theme) seem like the addition of content, but instead give off the feeling of the same poem in slightly different words. To give an example of it done well, we can look at two poems. The first is in Chapter 3, Hurricane, where Avritt writes: "beware of the people who find it easy to walk away." In Chapter 4, Storm, she further writes: "beware of those who only take from you and never give back." The second poem works to particularize the first: now it is not just to denounce all who can easily leave, but to denounce those who can easily leave because they only take. Personally, I think the poems read best if we assume that we are being taken from emotionally. In the first, then, we see a lack of strong emotional connection (on part of the person the author is talking about); in the second, however, our speaker realizes the emotional toll taken is from persons who feed off of what is given to them without ever reciprocating.
With that, I will stop. This is my defense of the book as a cohesive text; I admit, it is not altogether the best, but I hope I never claimed it to be. I only wished to convey the idea that it could have been great. When my argument breaks down I can only say that our author might have tried to do good.
The second critique -- that the narrator is passive -- is overall accurate. Even when they do give us a glimpse of personal statements, they are not developed (for instance, the "i" poem in Chapter 2 is stating something, nothing more). The third critique, which regards the poems as not 'showing' the audience what is felt, is also correct. This is not always the case, such as in one poem where we see the speaker masturbate to their pain, but poems with such imagery are few and far between. I touch briefly on the simplicity of the poems in the above paragraph, but I do not think I really honed in one how bad they are as individual poems, although I can guess that you, having read a few, know full well their quality. They lack depth of meaning, and any interesting qualities that the medium of poetry can provide to them individually is foregone. I wrote one already, but I can write 12 in as many seconds. Take an inspiration quote, like this: "the past cannot hurt me." Then, do this:
And, done! We've successfully created a poem, apparently. It is sad, really; I wish more had been done to make them interesting.
For final words, I think the poems should probably be read in conjunction with each other. I do not mean this in the more pretentious way I explained above, but rather, simply in that each line of poem can be contradicted by others. At one point, the author claims we are infallible, but at other times, during huge swathes of the book, we read poems giving advice and affirming that we can, for example, accept that something bad has been done to us. We are clearly not only capable of doing good, or we would not need advice! From my perspective, the book wants us to have self-esteem without ignoring the issues we might face.
I have seen a few critiques of the work which I agree with on varying levels. 1: the poems are sentence-long inspirational nothings capable of being collected by scrolling through Instagram hashtags. 2: the narrator is generally passive. 3: they do not 'show' the conveyed message.
The first critique is right in saying the poems are simple, usually only a sentence in length, and uneventful enough. I can write one:
She did
Not Know
her name.
But what I think it misses about the book is the structure of the work itself. It is like one long poem; looking at it as a single poem reduces the meaning behind things seemingly added for a purpose, like the chapter titles and the author's repetition. Chapter 2 is a case study for what I mean. First, we learn the author wants to write lessons. Most of them are humdrum and idealistic; they are things to be hung up by corporate in order to shame you into feeling like all your problems come from the lack of unpaid overtime. But, as we progress, we begin to see poems like this: "i cannot protect my heart from the whims of your love you only love me back when it suits you." It forces us to ask, 'what does this have to do with lessons?' We are greeted with universal poems ("love never dies. it is only reborn"), and poems pointed at the reader ("never forget that you are good enough"), but never poems taking so strongly the mantle of "i." It seems strange -- strange, until we realize that the lessons are not merely lessons for someone else, but ones our protagonist has learned about themselves. I find it poignant; it is personal, conveying the acceptance of an idea about a troubling personal experience simply, unheedful of additional contextualization (someone thinking this must, I imagine, already know this anyway); it is like a sudden sobering-up. The lack of substance which the poems contain are a strength in Chapter 2. If we must say they do not show anything, but tell us everything, then we might also say that the book is similar to a rough draft or diary -- only the themes expounded, the author not yet having written the meat of the poems -- and that is what I find to be strong in this chapter. As I alluded to earlier, there is an attempt to connect the chapters together. Unfortunately, the poems are usually not diverse enough in content to make the crescendo (in other words, the building of the theme) seem like the addition of content, but instead give off the feeling of the same poem in slightly different words. To give an example of it done well, we can look at two poems. The first is in Chapter 3, Hurricane, where Avritt writes: "beware of the people who find it easy to walk away." In Chapter 4, Storm, she further writes: "beware of those who only take from you and never give back." The second poem works to particularize the first: now it is not just to denounce all who can easily leave, but to denounce those who can easily leave because they only take. Personally, I think the poems read best if we assume that we are being taken from emotionally. In the first, then, we see a lack of strong emotional connection (on part of the person the author is talking about); in the second, however, our speaker realizes the emotional toll taken is from persons who feed off of what is given to them without ever reciprocating.
With that, I will stop. This is my defense of the book as a cohesive text; I admit, it is not altogether the best, but I hope I never claimed it to be. I only wished to convey the idea that it could have been great. When my argument breaks down I can only say that our author might have tried to do good.
The second critique -- that the narrator is passive -- is overall accurate. Even when they do give us a glimpse of personal statements, they are not developed (for instance, the "i" poem in Chapter 2 is stating something, nothing more). The third critique, which regards the poems as not 'showing' the audience what is felt, is also correct. This is not always the case, such as in one poem where we see the speaker masturbate to their pain, but poems with such imagery are few and far between. I touch briefly on the simplicity of the poems in the above paragraph, but I do not think I really honed in one how bad they are as individual poems, although I can guess that you, having read a few, know full well their quality. They lack depth of meaning, and any interesting qualities that the medium of poetry can provide to them individually is foregone. I wrote one already, but I can write 12 in as many seconds. Take an inspiration quote, like this: "the past cannot hurt me." Then, do this:
The past
Cannot
Hurt Me
And, done! We've successfully created a poem, apparently. It is sad, really; I wish more had been done to make them interesting.
For final words, I think the poems should probably be read in conjunction with each other. I do not mean this in the more pretentious way I explained above, but rather, simply in that each line of poem can be contradicted by others. At one point, the author claims we are infallible, but at other times, during huge swathes of the book, we read poems giving advice and affirming that we can, for example, accept that something bad has been done to us. We are clearly not only capable of doing good, or we would not need advice! From my perspective, the book wants us to have self-esteem without ignoring the issues we might face.
December 4, 2023
I keep asking myself: How can you write such a good poetic book? This is simply unique.
These words hit me so hard that I got tears in my eyes. It's beautiful at the same time, but it also tells the sad truth. As the author said, you are not to blame for what happened. I can't really decide which ones are my favorites because the entire book is so perfect. I thank the author very much for standing up for people and wanting to make them realize that they should love themselves.
Here are some favorites:
1) do not resent yourself
for how slowly you are healing
it takes time
and you need to remember that.
2) let me dress your wounds
and hold you tightly
as you sob in my arms
i will hold you
as long as it takes
until you feel okay
again
3) do not hurt others
in the same way
you’ve been hurt before
These words hit me so hard that I got tears in my eyes. It's beautiful at the same time, but it also tells the sad truth. As the author said, you are not to blame for what happened. I can't really decide which ones are my favorites because the entire book is so perfect. I thank the author very much for standing up for people and wanting to make them realize that they should love themselves.
Here are some favorites:
1) do not resent yourself
for how slowly you are healing
it takes time
and you need to remember that.
2) let me dress your wounds
and hold you tightly
as you sob in my arms
i will hold you
as long as it takes
until you feel okay
again
3) do not hurt others
in the same way
you’ve been hurt before
March 4, 2019
See this review and more on Books and Ladders!
This felt like so many other poetry collections - there was nothing unique or interesting about it. I had to double check to make sure I hadn't read this specific collection previously because it just felt so similar to a lot of others. The phrasing, the words, the formatting - all of it has been done before (and better imho). That is the problem with a lot of newer poetry - everyone wants to sell so they start to become and write and format just like everyone else.
"i cannot just forgive you for what you did to me
i don’t hate you but i can’t just pretend you never broke me"
This felt like so many other poetry collections - there was nothing unique or interesting about it. I had to double check to make sure I hadn't read this specific collection previously because it just felt so similar to a lot of others. The phrasing, the words, the formatting - all of it has been done before (and better imho). That is the problem with a lot of newer poetry - everyone wants to sell so they start to become and write and format just like everyone else.
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