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Prelude to Light
In her debut collection, Venetta Octavia ventures inwards on a personal journey to discover the light within.
She writes of how love and loss are often the same thing—a reflection that defines who we are—but also, how the stories we breathe life into are only the creations of our own mind.
—
CELESTIAL BODIES is the study of poetry as body; of gleaning words from stars. The series aims to entice and encompass, to invite the reader to enter their orbit, to begin anew.
She writes of how love and loss are often the same thing—a reflection that defines who we are—but also, how the stories we breathe life into are only the creations of our own mind.
—
CELESTIAL BODIES is the study of poetry as body; of gleaning words from stars. The series aims to entice and encompass, to invite the reader to enter their orbit, to begin anew.
- GenresPoetry
62 pages, Kindle Edition
First published July 28, 2016
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562 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
September 20, 2021
i don't know if it's truly possible but prelude to light gets better every time i read it. this has been my 3rd time reading it and this is the most I've enjoyed it within all 3 times. i always do enjoy poems about love and mythology. this collection has a couple in the middle and they're fantastic. i can actually fully recommend this book.
August 4, 2016
i make a habit of falling in love with poetry so easily. maybe it says something about me, but i have no problem falling into words & feeling them deeply. & so much of this book, i feel so very, very deeply. reading her poetry on tumblr has perhaps made me biased to some length, but i don't think my opinion would change if i hadn't previously read any of her work.
poetry always feels extremely personal to me, & it was raw & real & i can't think of anything more to say other than i'm happy i was able to purchase the book, & i'm more than satisfied with the results.
poetry always feels extremely personal to me, & it was raw & real & i can't think of anything more to say other than i'm happy i was able to purchase the book, & i'm more than satisfied with the results.
July 17, 2022
I LOVED this. I read Wishing for Birds first, and decided that I liked it so much that I'd read the rest of this collection and WHOA BOY I was not disappointed by this one.
These really stuck with me, and I loved the style. Everything about this makes me happy. 10/10.
These really stuck with me, and I loved the style. Everything about this makes me happy. 10/10.
January 29, 2018
Scary, isn't it, that a woman can be fierce and terrible, and still be a woman. And still have weakness. And still be made of flesh. And still be able to drown in water.
Beautiful, in it's contradiction, in it's strengths, it's weakness. A pleading to be allowed to be strength and ethereal, to be bold and feather light. A blinding light shone own it's own darkness.
There's a sense of knowing that you're something special, something that deserves to live, something that deserves to be given some goddamn slack to feel true feelings. That even though you feel broken, even though you feel as if you're not doing the bright big beautiful things you could be doing, you are enough. You're good.
You grieve, you want them back, you're willing to do whatever to get them back, you'll fold yourself into origami and present their favorite animal. And you're left with these pieces of paper that don't fit together anymore. Like the absolute worst puzzle without a picture on the f*cking box.
So you feel the feelings. You eat your cereal. You exist. And that's good. That's enough.
The rebuilding begins and you remake yourself entirely out of light. You burn. You are infinite. And that's enough, too.
You fly, having fallen. You let everyone know that this flying didn't come easily and maybe you feel like you're still on the ground. Your feather still look beautiful in the air. It's enough.
The question, how to be real with real sadness while still demanding to be treated, maybe not like new, but with worthiness...maybe asking for something more than to be treated as worthy, to be treated as capable as housing a multitude of universes. Venetta Octavia gets this but doesn't give us the answers in her poetry. Just questions.
How do you sparkle and still want flesh? How do you glow like something otherworldly and still be vulnerable? How do you treat yourself like something of real, tremendous beauty who is worthy of so much and yet be able to give yourself away, again? Would they even ask again?
How can I be enough, to be respected and still be allowed to feel? I know I'm enough...but do they? Does it matter?
I will not be a chess piece, I will be the game itself.
It doesn't.
Beautiful, in it's contradiction, in it's strengths, it's weakness. A pleading to be allowed to be strength and ethereal, to be bold and feather light. A blinding light shone own it's own darkness.
There's a sense of knowing that you're something special, something that deserves to live, something that deserves to be given some goddamn slack to feel true feelings. That even though you feel broken, even though you feel as if you're not doing the bright big beautiful things you could be doing, you are enough. You're good.
You grieve, you want them back, you're willing to do whatever to get them back, you'll fold yourself into origami and present their favorite animal. And you're left with these pieces of paper that don't fit together anymore. Like the absolute worst puzzle without a picture on the f*cking box.
So you feel the feelings. You eat your cereal. You exist. And that's good. That's enough.
The rebuilding begins and you remake yourself entirely out of light. You burn. You are infinite. And that's enough, too.
You fly, having fallen. You let everyone know that this flying didn't come easily and maybe you feel like you're still on the ground. Your feather still look beautiful in the air. It's enough.
The question, how to be real with real sadness while still demanding to be treated, maybe not like new, but with worthiness...maybe asking for something more than to be treated as worthy, to be treated as capable as housing a multitude of universes. Venetta Octavia gets this but doesn't give us the answers in her poetry. Just questions.
How do you sparkle and still want flesh? How do you glow like something otherworldly and still be vulnerable? How do you treat yourself like something of real, tremendous beauty who is worthy of so much and yet be able to give yourself away, again? Would they even ask again?
How can I be enough, to be respected and still be allowed to feel? I know I'm enough...but do they? Does it matter?
I will not be a chess piece, I will be the game itself.
It doesn't.
May 5, 2018
Actual rating: 3.5.
June 10, 2023
Good.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews