I Wrote This For You: 2007-2017 by Iain S. Thomas | Rating: ★★★★☆

As a note, an e-galley of this novel was sent to me via NetGalley by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.

Sometimes, poetry is the only thing that speaks to certain parts of our souls or minds or hearts. It can scrape past the superficial lines of who we are and touch on something deeply. I Wrote This For You: 2007-2017 is one of those collections that touches on something so raw and vulnerable, you often squirm from the way it makes you feel. This is my first experience in Iain S. Thomas' work but I can see what compels his fans to reach out and hope to touch the words he pens.

Life is full of so many complexities and like so many of his counterparts, he exposes parts of these traits in a way that makes readers feel attached to the very words he writes. It also lends a hand in exploring who we are as people--connecting our thoughts to his and then back again. When reading I Wrote This For You, you find yourself in the lines of a poem and suddenly, you're no longer completely alone. This is not something to be taken lightly; you will find yourself highlighting and tabbing many sections of the prose. It is the very type of collection you pick up and by the time you're finished, you are itching to submerge yourself in the pages once more.

You may be wondering why I didn't give the collection five stars--there were many moments in it that felt... oh, let's say, less powerful than others. This isn't a bad thing. Or uncommon. I had a section of I Wrote This For You tuck on loop in my mind for days after reading it--but there were some parts that were tedious in tone, too familiar and weak in comparison to the rest, that made a few parts slower to me. At the end of the day, this means nothing. For the work speaks to me on different levels than it will to the author or readers. And that's perfect.

I've said it before and I'll say it again--modern poetry has really taken a hit from the literary world in a way that makes me flinch in annoyance. They've forgotten what it means to be a poet. They've just decided what makes poetry appealing to them. I Wrote This For You is modern poetry at its rawest and there's nothing anyone can say that makes me feel differently about it. Something about it is so undeniably special and full of spark that you can't help but to be drawn by it. For writers, you pick it up and suddenly remember this is why you read and write to begin with. To feel something. I Wrote This For You does all of that and more. It reminds you to feel and to live all at once and that is the truest form of beauty.

There are parts of me that feel tingly just from reading it. Like a buzz spreading from the tips of my fingers throughout the rest of my body. What I loved most about it was the intimate connection we receive from the words to us, the way photography plays a part in the way everything is expressed in such a small amount of pages and of course the lasting impression it leaves upon us.

I also appreciated the timeline and dates included to every poem. Prose can be told in real time or no time at all, but the way that this is set up--told through the time of a decade--is just beautifully done. I adored it. I'm almost a little glad that I hadn't read any of this before because seeing it told in this manner, in one collection, feels right for me. It's the perfect collection to wrap up a stellar year of releases. I loved it!

You know the words are good when you feel like they were, indeed, written for you.