Love & Misadventure

Wait, this is a joke, right? How could this book possibly have so many high ratings?

While doing research on contemporary poetry, I recently came across an interesting NYT article about the rise of “Instapoets”—newer poets who have found an audience on social media sites such as Tumblr and Instagram. In many cases these poets are selling huge numbers of books, far above what is normal for poetry, and Leav is one example of this. Based on this book, I am scared to try any of the other poets mentioned in this article.

Several other reviewers have said this would appeal only to 13-year-old girls. Having once been a 13-year-old girl, I'm not even sure I'd agree. Each of these very short poems reads as if written by an especially immature preteen. They are shockingly bad. I was able to finish this book only because it's so short.

If the following poem, a typical example from this collections, does not appeal to you, be warned:


A Rollercoaster

You will find him in
my highs and lows;
in my mind
he'll to and fro.

He's the tallest person,
that I know—
and so he keeps me,
on my toes.


And it just keeps getting worse and worse:


His Cause and Effect

He makes me turn,
he makes me toss;
his words mean mine
are at a loss.

He makes me blush!

He makes me want
to brush and floss.


These are not cherry-picked examples of the worst. They're ALL like this.

The one positive thing I have to say is that Leav's illustrations are fine. Not my style, but serviceable if you like that sickly sweet sort of thing.

That NYT article said Leav gained much of her attention when her poem “Closure” was shared on Instagram by one of the Kardashians. So I guess I should have known right then. I still just can't believe this is so popular. No wonder poetry gets such a bad rap. Truly a painful experience.