What do you think?
Rate this book
Ghosts
Every poem in GHOSTS touches on the theme in some way, whether it be overtly as in the title poem, or more succinctly, as in Dragonfly – in which the poet explores ephemeral elements of his perception of his mother.Nick Conroy’s words touch the heart of his subject matter, and the reader’s emotions at the same time, involving family, identity – and potential or actual loss.This is a strong, cohesive collection of poems, containing a hard grit which meets a fluid, powerful movement of language to create waves of recognition and understanding. The topics and themes are covered honestly, and with refreshing vulnerability in the language used. In each poem there is something of a journey – involving lostness, a seeking and in the end an acceptance of the events described.Nick Conroy’s paged poetry is like the written musical score of his live performance, which has to be seen to be fully appreciated.Nick is currently studying for a Master’s in English at the University of Hull. Poetry has always been at the centre of his passion as a writer, and since childhood he’s enjoyed spoken word.He moved to Hull in 2014, with an understanding that the city is still revered for its poets. He senses something haunting and intoxicating about Hull, and the community of writing that it holds in high regard.
48 pages, Paperback
Published February 28, 2019
1 person want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 12, 2019
Time taken to read - In and out over 3 days
Pages - 48
Publisher - Wild Pressed Books
Source - Review copy
Blurb from Goodreads
Every poem in GHOSTS touches on the theme in some way, whether it be overtly as in the title poem, or more succinctly, as in Dragonfly - in which the poet explores ephemeral elements of his perception of his mother.
Nick Conroy's words touch the heart of his subject matter, and the reader's emotions at the same time, involving family, identity - and potential or actual loss.
This is a strong, cohesive collection of poems, containing a hard grit which meets a fluid, powerful movement of language to create waves of recognition and understanding. The topics and themes are covered honestly, and with refreshing vulnerability in the language used. In each poem there is something of a journey - involving lostness, a seeking and in the end an acceptance of the events described.
Nick Conroy's paged poetry is like the written musical score of his live performance, which has to be seen to be fully appreciated.
Nick is currently studying for a Master's in English at the University of Hull. Poetry has always been at the centre of his passion as a writer, and since childhood he's enjoyed spoken word.
He moved to Hull in 2014, with an understanding that the city is still revered for its poets. He senses something haunting and intoxicating about Hull, and the community of writing that it holds in high regard.
My Review
Nineteen powerful poems packed into this tiny wee book. Each have ghost themed or mentioned in some description. Some poems are really short at just over half a page, others have verses spread across a few pages.
Poetry is something I used to love as a child/teen and fell away from as an adult, I agreed to this book because of the overall theme. The cover also had a wee pull for me which was why I wanted to bookstagram it, it looked great in so many settings.
I think, for me, I got the most from this by dipping in and out and soaking up one poem at a time with a break in between in. For each reader I think some of the poems will be quite deep and intense depending on how you take them. For example "Grappling with Ghosts" has likely came from the authors own person experience or situation or something that sparked that creation. Yet for me it evoked a memory from my past and made me ponder on a particular relationship I hadn't thought of in a long long time.
I think that is the thing with poetry, it can be very personal, for the author producing it and for the reader consuming it. Some of the poems left no deep impression other that to smile that a young man has created something like these and others caught me off guard by evoking either an emotive response and or memories. I wasn't expecting anything like that when I picked this up, maybe it is time I went back to reading poetry again. A very different type of read for me but I did enjoy it as a break from the norm and a different kind of escapism. If you enjoy poetry or even if you don't normally read it I would say check it out and would love to hear your thoughts, 3/5 for me this time. This is my first time reading this authors works I would be interested in seeing what else he has to offer.
Pages - 48
Publisher - Wild Pressed Books
Source - Review copy
Blurb from Goodreads
Every poem in GHOSTS touches on the theme in some way, whether it be overtly as in the title poem, or more succinctly, as in Dragonfly - in which the poet explores ephemeral elements of his perception of his mother.
Nick Conroy's words touch the heart of his subject matter, and the reader's emotions at the same time, involving family, identity - and potential or actual loss.
This is a strong, cohesive collection of poems, containing a hard grit which meets a fluid, powerful movement of language to create waves of recognition and understanding. The topics and themes are covered honestly, and with refreshing vulnerability in the language used. In each poem there is something of a journey - involving lostness, a seeking and in the end an acceptance of the events described.
Nick Conroy's paged poetry is like the written musical score of his live performance, which has to be seen to be fully appreciated.
Nick is currently studying for a Master's in English at the University of Hull. Poetry has always been at the centre of his passion as a writer, and since childhood he's enjoyed spoken word.
He moved to Hull in 2014, with an understanding that the city is still revered for its poets. He senses something haunting and intoxicating about Hull, and the community of writing that it holds in high regard.
My Review
Nineteen powerful poems packed into this tiny wee book. Each have ghost themed or mentioned in some description. Some poems are really short at just over half a page, others have verses spread across a few pages.
Poetry is something I used to love as a child/teen and fell away from as an adult, I agreed to this book because of the overall theme. The cover also had a wee pull for me which was why I wanted to bookstagram it, it looked great in so many settings.
I think, for me, I got the most from this by dipping in and out and soaking up one poem at a time with a break in between in. For each reader I think some of the poems will be quite deep and intense depending on how you take them. For example "Grappling with Ghosts" has likely came from the authors own person experience or situation or something that sparked that creation. Yet for me it evoked a memory from my past and made me ponder on a particular relationship I hadn't thought of in a long long time.
I think that is the thing with poetry, it can be very personal, for the author producing it and for the reader consuming it. Some of the poems left no deep impression other that to smile that a young man has created something like these and others caught me off guard by evoking either an emotive response and or memories. I wasn't expecting anything like that when I picked this up, maybe it is time I went back to reading poetry again. A very different type of read for me but I did enjoy it as a break from the norm and a different kind of escapism. If you enjoy poetry or even if you don't normally read it I would say check it out and would love to hear your thoughts, 3/5 for me this time. This is my first time reading this authors works I would be interested in seeing what else he has to offer.
March 14, 2019
I always find poetry hard to review, as each person will take something different from it making it personal to themselves and the author. For me I did enjoy Nick's collection of poems in his debut GHOSTS, there are 19 poems and each one touches on the theme of Ghosts - be it the title or theme. Some are really short and some are 2-3 pages, some really touched me and others had no impact at all. But that is the thing with poetry - each one will be different for everyone.
Have you seen a Ghost?, Solitude and Buried Alive were my favourites. This was a good read to dip in and out of out, trying a new one each time. I loved the theme and the cover and hope to read more of what Nick has to offer.
Have you seen a Ghost?, Solitude and Buried Alive were my favourites. This was a good read to dip in and out of out, trying a new one each time. I loved the theme and the cover and hope to read more of what Nick has to offer.
March 7, 2019
My thanks to Love Groups for my copy of 'Ghosts' by Nick Conroy
This was for an #Instagram #Bookstagram tour but I loved it so much that I wanted to write a review of the book.
In his debut collection, Nick teases forth the ghosts , onto the page where they meet the reader and gets us to consider their own.
We are all haunted, either by loss of people who have had an impact on our lives, or opportunities missed, paths taken, or in some cases, not.
You can tell, by reading the poems that not only has Hull had a huge influence on him, but also that he is a spoken word poet by the cadence and rhythm of his words. I would honestly defy anyone not to read the first poem and become seduced into reading the whole book....they dig under your skin and lurk there, like, well, ghosts.
This was for an #Instagram #Bookstagram tour but I loved it so much that I wanted to write a review of the book.
In his debut collection, Nick teases forth the ghosts , onto the page where they meet the reader and gets us to consider their own.
We are all haunted, either by loss of people who have had an impact on our lives, or opportunities missed, paths taken, or in some cases, not.
You can tell, by reading the poems that not only has Hull had a huge influence on him, but also that he is a spoken word poet by the cadence and rhythm of his words. I would honestly defy anyone not to read the first poem and become seduced into reading the whole book....they dig under your skin and lurk there, like, well, ghosts.
Read
March 20, 2019I have to admit that poems aren't something I've really read much of so I was quite keen to read this book of poems and see how I got on.
I dipped in and out of the book in between my current reads and read a poem here and there and I was pleasantly surprised how much I enjoyed them.
I won't give away anything about any of the poems, each one is different and thought-provoking. It's quite a talent to be able to portray such emotion and feelings in so little words and I take my hat off to Nick Conroy for being able to do that.
There are nineteen poems in the book and I've been trying to think which is my favourite and the one that stands out, that I remember clearly is For Mum, although they are all filled with emotion this is the one that I felt the most.
Yes I was pleasantly surprised by this collection of poems and I look forward to reading more from Nick Conroy in the future.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews