We Ponder: Unsettled Minds: A Collection of Poems

by Billie Bioku

Here lies a collection of 70 poems. This poetry book will take you through a journey of unearthing society's most contemplated topics. I encourage you to lean into the emotional responses you feel and evoke your imagination.

Genres: Poetry

110 pages, Paperback

Published March 24, 2023

About the author

Ever since she was a child, Billie Bioku has always asked the question, "Why?". Her curiosity has led her to a self-discovery of the humanities. She often marvels about the arts of philosophy, society, and economics, weaving together the disciplines throughout her writings.

Billie is a Lawyer by day and Poet come nightfall. In her free time, she enjoys learning about different historical facts, cooking/baking, reading, gardening, and painting.

Stay tuned for what's next!

Reviews

[Ruby Reads All · Rating 5 out of 5]

We Ponder: Unsettled Minds: A Collection of Poems by Billie Bioku

I would like to thank Archway Publishing and Billie Bioku for sending me this signed collection of poetry. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to read and review it. The opinions presented in this review are mine alone.
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4.5 stars rounded up

We read poetry to feel things and that is what the author calls readers to do – to go on a journey through life’s most contemplated topics, to lean into the emotional responses and lead with your imagination.

For those who are new to, or intimidated by poetry, this would be a great collection to start with. The prose is welcoming and undemanding and the topics covered highly relatable. The poems are grouped into several sections: Awaken Dreams, Mental Collisions, Surreal Love, Spiritual Remedies, Comfort in the Heartbreak, Nature's Quilt, and Awestruck Searches.

The poems contained in each section are a mix of what makes up real life human messiness – heartache, joy, nostalgia, loneliness, hope, and perseverance to name a few. Bioku has captured the perfectly imperfect nature of the human condition in a real, accessible way.

I was particularly drawn to the Mental Collisions and Awestruck Searches sections. I love the honest discussion of mental illness, from anxiety and depression to OCD and eating disorders. I was drawn to the poem entitled “Spirals” as it captures anxiety and panic attack in an authentic way. I really connected with the last line: “Quiet minds ruminate around passive thoughts.”

The collection ends with a poem titled “End Scene.” As I read the lines I was struck by a feeling of contentment - the kind you find when reminiscing past joys brings you gratitude and warmth for the happiness you are experiencing in the present. It was a fitting way to end this group of poems.

[warnerswife · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just finished reading this in a day and it was absolutely captivating. And a five stars read. I believe the art to cobtrol and then drive the readers mind is hard but Billie has done it in the most beautiful way using the most beautiful words. Their introspective exploration of the human psyche left me “pondering” long after I turned the last page. Her writing style is truly unique, exceptional and through provoking
-Sara

[Taylor Rebmann · Rating 5 out of 5]

"We ponder: Unsettled Minds" by Billie Bioku is a delightful collection of poems that truly speaks to the soul. Bioku's words are like a gentle breeze, stirring up emotions and thoughts we often keep buried. Each poem is a journey, exploring themes of love, loss, and the human experience with raw honesty and grace. Whether you're a poetry enthusiast or just dipping your toes into the genre, this book is a gem worth savoring. So, grab a cozy blanket and a cup of tea, and let Bioku's words whisk you away on a lyrical adventure.

[Sarita Pekary Bartel · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was so happy to receive this book and glad that I won it in a giveaway. What made it even more special was that the author Billie Bioku personally sent me the book and wrote a nice message inside. I was so consumed by the writing of the poems and the vulnerability expressed throughout them. I loved reading about her curiosity and how that has helped her see things in a different light. There were a few poems that I found myself re-reading and I greatly enjoyed that because I felt so much inside of myself and it was beautiful to know that there's someone out there who can put some of our feelings into beautiful words.
Thank you Billie Bioku for writing. Never stop.

[Liz · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional Read! I highly recommend this book!

[Tai · Rating 5 out of 5]

A welcome addition to my collection of good poetry books.
I enjoyed reading the poems, because it allowed me to think beyond my horizon.
It was very well done.

[Ariel Bender · Rating 5 out of 5]

Thoroughly enjoyed this book!

[Alexis Scores · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading the books by this Author! Such beautifully written poetry books!

[charlie · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars.
i’m sure this book is great i’m just stupid!
(seriously what does xeric mean)

[Lola M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m a bit speechless because I have so much to say about this book but I don’t even know where to start or how to articulate it. Basically, this is one of my top books of 2023. Hands down!

[Billie Bioku · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bioku's debut collection of affirmation poetry draws a dynamic blueprint of the unsettled mind that ultimately reveals itself as a declaration of self-acceptance. Divided into seven sections that each excavate different sources of emotional, physical, philosophical and spiritual discord, We Ponder takes readers on an odyssey through the speaker's psyche that touches on disordered eating, OCD, depression, emotional abuse, feminism, racism, and more. "A work in progress, we were promised to be completed," Bioku writes in "Becoming More Aware," but that promise, it turns out, is never fulfilled; despair reigns for that poem's speaker until their perspective shifts enough for them to abandon the idea of unachievable completion.

In "Insomnia," from a section titled "Mental Collisions," the speaker stays up until dawn and "watch[es] as the Earth tilt[s] on its axis to reveal the sun's glory." At this change in perspective, day is a result of the earth turning rather than the sun coming up. The speaker then asks, "does the sun ever rise?" which is a remark not just on the unsettled self but the unsettled collective—even though humanity has long understood that the sun itself does not ascend the sky, we cannot abandon the myth of sunrise. In Bioku's hands, though, this inquiry and this turning of perspective on its axis results in a healing liberation.

Bioku spins an elaborate web of self-expression in We Ponder that, despite several one-dimensional poems, is accessible, relatable, and refreshingly bold, particularly for readers seeking poetry about mental illness. Bioku is at her best in this collection in the section titled "Spiritual Remedies," which is a series of prayer-poems that are brief but often transcendent. As the speaker writes in "Magenta Cosmos," in the path of God or Creator, the unsettled mind is not one meant to be solved or settled: "grand designs have no negative spaces."

Takeaway: Dreamy, melancholy poems of spirituality, mental health, heartbreak, and love.

-BookLife Reviews

[Lola M · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved the revised version of We Ponder: Unsettled Minds, although the original version was just as wonderfully written. "Friends without Homes" was especially touching. I could relate on so many levels. A pervasive sense of orientation and deep emotions runs through this book and is captured with poignancy by the Author. I highly recommend We ponder: Unsettled Minds to everyone.

[Corey · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wasn't a huge fan of the poetry style and much of the collection felt incomplete and as though they needed additional revision. You can see what the author was going for but you can also see where they failed to reach it in several places.

[Amanda Murphy · Rating 2 out of 5]

some of the poems or writing didn’t make sense

It’s not a bad read a quite a few of the writings are beautiful it there are some that just didn’t make sense to me.