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First Impression: Angsty, feisty, poetry that would sound great performed as spoken work and in smaller doses.

The Phoenix Tapes book cover

Sending heartfelt thanks to Nelle J. The generous gift of her book in exchange for an honest review makes this article possible.

And she’s back… Nelle J makes a remarkable return with her latest collection of poetry. Presented like an eighty’s mixtape, Nelle J gives us The Phoenix Tapes, complete with a Side A and a Side B. Starting with a fiery journey through love, lust, empowerment, triumph, and faith,’ Nelle J takes us on a feisty, upbeat, passionate journey. She mellows us out when we get to side B bringing a more compassionate, reflective side to her writing.

A common theme that runs through Side A is toxicity. That is not hard to comprehend with titles like Boxing Match, Control Freak, Revolver and Gaslight. The poetry calls out narcissism and controlling behavior. In addition, the sequencing of the poems creates a powerful story as we transform from pain to make up sex and back to toxic moments. The brevity of the poems creates that stereotypical roller coaster sensation. The poems for Side B continue the powerful story but in a less forceful way. There are still poems that demonstrate respect for oneself and look back on the drama having left it all behind. Alternatively, there are poems that still embrace the drama and hope things will change.

Although stylistic, one of the things that drove me crazy about the book was the positioning of the poems. The fact that they are all laid out in a centralized way is neither by-the-by. However, what I did not appreciate was the amount of white space between the title and the poem that on occasion meant the last line was unnecessarily on a page on its own. I also did not like that when a poem continued on another page, it was placed quite high up. It threw the balance of reading off and caused a brief stumble whilst I processed this.

At times, the poems seem repetitive, not because they sound the same, but because similar imagery and vocabulary is used. In some ways, it solidifies the judgments of these relationships, whilst in others, it feels like seventy-six pages is a really long length over which to explore this theme and style of poetry. Speaking of style of poetry, the collection is very punchy. I imagine these poems being performed as spoken verse at an open mic light.

With the type of themes covered and the mild swear words, this book is for adults only, although angsty teens will relate. Overall, it is worth a read if one enjoys angry poems that are worthy of being performed. It is not everyone’s cup of tea, and it is likely to trigger people that have had destructive relationships. It does make it quite clear that toxic behavior is not acceptable even though the poet is living within the scenario.

Quick Rating: ⭐⭐⭐/ R Rated

Have you say: What separates a great poem from a good poem? Won’t you share your opinions with the Papergirl Community in the comments below?

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