Poet Nika Ann has an Amazing Book Out
a review by Mikel K

I think that I discovered the poet Nika Ann on Facebook, though I’m not sure how. Her poetry immediately grabbed me and I followed her to her website nikarasco.wordpress.com. There I found a treasure chest of amazing poetry.

Nika Ann has just come out with a book on Swimming With Elephants Publications called, “To Anyone Who Has Ever Loved a Writer,” and like Nika Ann’s poems on Facebook and her website,
the poems in this book are amazing.

The book starts with a bit of flash fiction wherein the author explains the title of the book:

“It can be lonely to love a writer, especially when the lover does not have a time consuming interest or practice that requires their focus while the writer is lost in their private universe. Even at the high point of a relationship, there is always something calling the writer away, a need, a craving for some necessary solitude to write. Solitude many people cannot understand.”

The brutal honesty that this paragraph conveys is evident in every poem in the book. Alienation, loss, suicide are prevalent themes in the book.

The poem, “What you need to know about depression, “starts off with the lines, “you need to know that the sun does not guarantee a good day and the promise of a friend and cold beer will not always be enough to lure me from my self-made cave,” and goes on to eloquently explain what I am to assume are the authors experience with and feelings about depression. It is both confessional and explanatory at the same time and, as are most all the poems in this book, refreshingly honest and insightful.

“Come Back,” is an amazingly moving poem. It speaks of a girl who ruined her hair and gave the narrator of the poem her grandmother’s watch two days before she killed herself.

“Earthquake,” is another one of my favorites from the book. It is the narrator quirky response to someone who asked her to marry them.

“Remembers,” “Bird,” “Shed,” “Fly,” “Prayer,” and “Confession,” are other poems that I found outstanding and that I think you should check out.

I read this book in one sitting and then re-read it in another sitting which is a good thing. In other words, it was a book that I didn’t want to put down until I had finished it. Nika Ann has a bright future as a poet. You should head over to Swimming With Elephants Publications and buy a copy of this fine book.

To learn more about poet and review Mikel K, please visit his Open Salon: http://open.salon.com/blog/mikelkpoet

To Anyone Who Has Ever Loved a Writer is currently available through Amazon and CreateSpace for $10.95. Check it out today.