(3 / 5) – It’s Okay
I love poetry. If you have been following me even for a few weeks you probably already figured out I love poetry and I love it in its many many forms and I am lucky to have friends and acquaintances who know me well enough to share their poetry love with me. “Watering the Soul” by Courtney Peppernell is one such gift and it was a delight.
Peppernell takes the reader on a journey to pause, plant, cultivate and care for one’s soul with the understanding that it is not the destination but the journey that matters and in which we actually find ourselves day in and day out. Peppernell’s easy, engaging and informal poetic cadence lends itself well to this type of journey, one you can start at the beginning and walk straight through, or one you can step into at any time and find something of value.
There are some utter gems in this collection and mine is now a well marked book yet, as a whole I find it a bit much. It took me a long time to get through this collection not because I wanted to savor each line, but because there was a repetitiveness that wore on me as I got further into the collection and I found myself taking longer and longer breaks from it. With that said, Peppernell does an excellent job of exploring each stage of the soul’s journey from a variety of linguistic dimensions. I simply did not find this an asset but a distraction in my own reading of this work.
The basic premise of this collection, taking the opportunity to center oneself, care and love that self is beautiful and a message people of all ages, demographic backgrounds, faiths and life experiences need to hear and I am sure anyone who picked up this collection of poems would find wisdom, insight and points of deep connection, just as I have.
Happy Reading!
Hannah
