Name: I Wrote This for You
ISBN: 9781771680042

Pleasefindthis

Begun in 2007, this collection of poetic reflections "focuses on a different facet of life, love, loss, beginnings and endings."--Publisher description.

Just the Words

I Wrote This for You

Pleasefindthis is the joint work of poet Iain S. Thomas and photographer Jon Ellis.

Lisa Wright

This book was haunting and touching. It was like finding fragments of obsessive letters from every ex I've ever had... Or like reading my own traumatized scrawlings right after a break-up. We all have felt like this author before.

maitha mana

HOLY SHIT this book is amazing. They all seem to have the same thing in common and that's heartache but whatever atleast it sounds good?

Selin Igten

Alexa M

Arturo Hernández

It was very hard for me to connect with the material portrayed on this book. It reminded me of MILK AND HONEY, however I wasn’t as sold as with the first one. It’s a nice read though.

tina

There are poems that stay with us for a minute or two after reading it. And then there are poems that stay with us for a lifetime. These are the kind of poems that go straight into our hearts and never leave. This is exactly what I Wrote This For You was to me. For the past (almost) two months, I've been reading contemporary poems from various authors. And for the past (almost) two months, I've yet to find something that stood out to me. Until I read I Wrote This For You. Before reading this book, I've lost all the expectations that I've had for poetry. It's just not the same as it was before. And I accepted it. Maybe this really was the new trend and I just wasn't into it. But reading this book completely changed my mind and made me believe that there are still many beautiful poems out there.

Here are some of my favorites from I Wrote This For You: 

  
“THE PLACE I’M IN
You cannot kill me here. Bring your soldiers, your death, your disease, your collapsed economy because it doesn’t matter, I have nothing left to lose and you cannot kill me here. Bring the tears of orphans and the wails of a mother’s loss, bring your God damn air force and Jesus on a cross, bring your hate and bitterness and long working hours, bring your empty wallets and love long since gone but you cannot kill me here. Bring your sneers, your snide remarks and friendships never felt, your letters never sent, your kisses never kissed, cigarettes smoked to the bone and cancer killing fears but you cannot kill me here. For I may fall and I may fail but I will stand again each time and you will find no satisfaction. Because you cannot kill me here.”
  

  
“THE
BIBLIOGRAPHY
OF STRINGS
And you taught me what this feels like.
And then how it feels to lose it.
And you showed me who I wanted.
And then who I wasn’t.
And you ticked every box.
And then drew a line.
And you weren’t mine to begin with.
And then not to end with.
And you looked like everything I wanted.
And then became something I hated.
And you get thought of every day.
And then not in a good way.
And you let me leave.
And then wish I’d stayed.
And you almost killed me.
But I didn’t die.”
  

  
“THE DEATH OF LOVE
Oh love. Why is your body so still, why do your muscles sing no more, why does your chest not rise and fall.
Oh love. Why is your skin so cold, why do your eyes not trace my face, why do you not get up and accept my warm embrace.
Oh love. I have no regrets for our mistakes, no heart left to break, for you have taken it with you to the grave.
Oh love. Love that turned to death, death that turned to longing, longing that turned away from me, leaving me here to bear it alone.
Oh love. Oh love. Oh my love."

Siya S

You really cannot have too much of everything, that really does ruin the vibe. Poetry books always left me emotionally drained and bored. Fragments of these felt good on Tumblr, though. Some even managed to leave me all teary-eyed.

Bea R.

“Forget about your lists and do what you can because that’s all you can do. Phone up the people you miss and tell them you love them. Hug those close to you as hard as you can. Because you are always only a drunk driver’s stupidity, a nervous shopkeeper’s mistake, a doctor’s best attempts and an old age away from forever.”

“Love, at every opportunity you are given to love. Be less afraid. Embrace each day (none are promised). Cry when you need to, it'll make you feel better. You were put on this planet to feel every feeling you could, do that. Everything works out in the end.
I promise.”

Omar AlHashmi

Alexa Auerbach 

Personally I didn't like it. Meh.

Second time read: just not my cup of tea

Jas Wang

Elizabeth

I say that I'm finished with this book, but I'll never truly stop reading it. 

Grab a highlighter, a pen, whatever you need to mark this book and make it yours.

Kath Lau

This is a short read but the words will definitely stay with me for a long time. I love how the photos and words fit together to create a heartwarming/inspiring message. Read this!

Brianna Best

I really liked this! I read it in one afternoon so maybe I'll go back later and sort of absorb more. I wish I could really give this 3.5 stars, but I thought that three was too low a number, and four a little bit too high. I certainly liked it, and maybe it was because I'd seen a lot of quotes from the book frequented everywhere, but I thought that a good portion of the book was a little...generic. Almost like anyone could have written it. However, there are some really really good gems that hit me hard and the overall presentation of the book and the raw emotion made it easier to jump it up to four stars. Definitely glad I made the purchase.

celeste

and then my soul saw you and it kind of went "oh, there you are. i've been looking for you".

how many hearts would be invaded for the wrong reasons, if each time you said "i love you", you meant it?

estos son algunos de mis fragmentos favoritos de esta colección de poemas; un libro emocionante y súper recomendable.

Lisa Collins

Rebeca 

4.5 stars!!! 
I loved this!!!! Some did sound super cheesy but majority of them made me feel some type of way. Would recommend

Abigail F

This book had such great potential with a captivating title and an alluring abstract. However, it fell far from my expectations, to the point where I am happy this book was gifted to me rather than going out and spending the money myself. This is a book of what I would loosely call poetry. It may be poetry in an extreme Tumblr-esque type way (not that there are not good poets on Tumblr), however I personally viewed it more as pieces of flash fiction mixed with quotes about life and love.

 The "Poems" 
Let me start by saying there were some good pieces in this book. There were gems hidden throughout that I personally really enjoyed ("The Circus Is Cheaper When It Rains," "The Seconds Before Launch," The Fragments Belong Together," "The World Is Better Backwards," and "The Dwindling Conversation" were what I personally found to be the best). However, a majority of the book felt like I was scrolling through a word porn page on Facebook, reading recycled quotes, or reading another one of those open letters to *insert literally anyone* that you could kind of connect with but left you with this yearning for more. Some of the quotes are speaking to you as a reader and could apply to most anyone (see the last 30 pages), and the rest feel like I'm reading someone's diary entries cut up and reorganized into a letter to a significant other. One redeeming quality to maybe a third of the poems is the use of the titles in relation to the overall meaning. There were times when the title made the quote actually noteable, such as "The Leftovers." Other times, however, the title seemed a little too askew and abstract, such as "The Seraphim And The Pirate." 

 The Pictures 
The worst aspect of the book is the pictures. They do not fit. Most of them look like stock photos someone found during a google search and don't offer much insight into the poems. Each piece had its own picture, but only a few seemed to correlate with the poems. Maybe if I took the time to reread the book a handful of times I would be able to see some deep artistic connection that I am just currently unable to appreciate. However, this book doesn't give me any inclination to want to read it. 

 Formatting 
I did appreciate how some of the poems turned sideways. While it probably wasn't necessary, it did make it more interesting and caught my attention in the midst of the stream of poor quotes. However, the arrangement of the poems felt sloppy. I could not really tell a difference between the various sections until the last one--the attention of the poems seemed to be pointed back at us as readers and not the lost lover. Otherwise it seemed like a back and forth fight within every section to decide if the atuhor loves or hates their last partner with "insights" to life randomly stuck in. Maybe the author was trying to convey the back and forth emotions following a break up, however it could have been better executed if that is the case.

Personally, I won't be rereading this book again any time soon. I wanted more from it the entire time and I think if I had put it down (it is an entirely easy read and only took me an hour), I wouldn't have picked it back up. This book is for people coming right out a break up, or deeply in love, or dealing with a break up horribly because they are still deeply in love. It isn't worth your time if you are looking for poetry with real depth.

I Wrote This for You Just the Words

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