Review of “Oaths (poems)” by F. S. Yousaf

I’m in over my head on this one. I can’t even format the title correctly. There is no punctuation in the title, but the subtitle is on the next line. Parentheses are the best I could do, which is what this review is.

I don’t read poetry, not because I thinks it’s useless–I just don’t read it. So I thought I should give it a try. I assumed that poets were masters of metaphor and all kinds of word relationships. Especially subtlety. There’s nothing subtle about the author’s pining for their youth, and to make things better for themselves. I don’t know if that’s actually how they felt when they wrote these sentimental poems, but that’s what this collection is about.

Not feeling abused emotionally or physically as a child or young adult, I had difficulty relating to the tenor of these short works. Nevertheless, there were some great metaphors and similes in here, along with some interesting presentation styles I appreciated (or tried to appreciate). I just couldn’t get into the often dark, frequently reminiscent, and always contemplative themes represented. I read a few pages now and then as a catharsis–for what I don’t know. Because the theme is so dark and deep most of the time, this isn’t exactly good meditation material.

I don’t feel qualified to express an opinion about this work, but the topic turned me off. But that’s just me, and I am a beginner at reading poetry. In fact, I had to Google how to read poetry. I even tried memorizing some of them to be sure I had read them correctly. I’m not giving up on poetry and, in fact, I’ll be starting another collection I purchased along with this one. I’ll let you know what I think.

If you enjoy deeply introspective poetry, you might already be familiar with the author’s work…