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The Lovely Brush: Poems
This poetry collection stems from the author's own personal experiences with life, love, and family, and details the struggles from within. These vignette-style poems frame small moments in time and life that the author shares with an uncomplicated, yet effective tongue. This is her second poetry collection.
89 pages, Kindle Edition
Published September 2, 2016
90 people want to read
About the author
Heather Beck (Awad)
3 books6 followersHeather Beck (Awad) is an American poet living in Upstate, NY. She is originally from Long Island, NY. She lives with her 16-year old daughter, Aziza, and their 3 lovable cats: Lizzie, Jasmine, and Shadow.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
September 12, 2016
Expect an experience when you read this book. From the gentle opening poem, Untroubled, you will be set up for the next poem, Bird World, leading you into an extended metaphor which will pull at your heart with lines like these: “...and find /my bird soulmate /so we could build /a nest together, get ready for the baby /birds we’d have, and when the babies /are grown and can fly on their own, /my soulmate and I will spend our days /feeling the wind under our wings...”
I should warn you that not all the situations are this pleasant. This book is for reasonably adult readers, as in The Secret, which begins thus: “It’s uncanny how quiet it became after, /after we did inappropriate things...”
For the alienation of being a new, outsider person in town, turn to School Concert.
Awad explores teenagers from more than one viewpoint. In Boys, Bullies, and Baseball Bats, you will be a thirteen year old girl.
You will be a parent in the very next poem, Darling Teenager, which includes these lines: “She used to say mommy so cute, my heart /would melt. I’m trying to welcome this //hormonal stranger into the house, retreating /to memories of my once teenage life.”
For two very different poems about relationships and key life events, turn to Heaven Sent and A Girl’s Dream. From the former: “I used my knuckles to rub both eyes /but it was still him. It was like my father dying /was his cue to turn in to a hero of some kind,...” while from the latter: “But despite all failures, she’s still radiant...” To find out why, you’ll have to get this book and turn to this poem.
Those who scroll a review for the tiny carps can stop here. Maybe an echo or a typo. In short, nothing. Back to the good stuff.
For thoughts on a lost relationship, turn to In Man in the Moonlight: “in the car, when my mind is ripe for a thought, /or when Neil Diamond’s Hello Again plays /unexpectedly, like in the produce section, /and my mind is there all over again: his /sleeping, smiling face broadcast across /the marquee of my mind. Like an encore...”
Then in Making a Choice, this: “Instead of all this silence, tell me you /know what I did, tell me you hate me. /Kick me, scratch me, threaten to throw /daggers into my eyes, but don’t do this...”
I mentioned earlier that there are some hard situations here, and A Girl’s Choice is one such. As is Little Donna.
An unusual poem, and a favourite here, is Rockefeller Center. I am not competent to give a decent feel for this short poem in a quote: it is a narrative neatly and compellingly done, with a small twist at the ending that closes the poem like a shut mouth.
For a brilliant dash of bitterness, turn to Thank You.
I will only comment on The Stoop that, in some sense, I have been there. I hope our readers have not.
I have other favourites in this collection, too many to quote. I am rating this book at five stars. My personal guidelines, when doing any review, are as follows: five stars means, roughly equal to best in genre. Rarely given. Four stars means, extremely good. Three stars means, definitely recommendable. I am a tough reviewer. I try hard to be consistent.
This book easily stands with some great poets of old: tougher than Frost, more personal than Sandburg, more human, most of the time, than W.H.Auden. This is writing from the gut into your brain and life. Five stars it is, and extremely recommended.
I should warn you that not all the situations are this pleasant. This book is for reasonably adult readers, as in The Secret, which begins thus: “It’s uncanny how quiet it became after, /after we did inappropriate things...”
For the alienation of being a new, outsider person in town, turn to School Concert.
Awad explores teenagers from more than one viewpoint. In Boys, Bullies, and Baseball Bats, you will be a thirteen year old girl.
You will be a parent in the very next poem, Darling Teenager, which includes these lines: “She used to say mommy so cute, my heart /would melt. I’m trying to welcome this //hormonal stranger into the house, retreating /to memories of my once teenage life.”
For two very different poems about relationships and key life events, turn to Heaven Sent and A Girl’s Dream. From the former: “I used my knuckles to rub both eyes /but it was still him. It was like my father dying /was his cue to turn in to a hero of some kind,...” while from the latter: “But despite all failures, she’s still radiant...” To find out why, you’ll have to get this book and turn to this poem.
Those who scroll a review for the tiny carps can stop here. Maybe an echo or a typo. In short, nothing. Back to the good stuff.
For thoughts on a lost relationship, turn to In Man in the Moonlight: “in the car, when my mind is ripe for a thought, /or when Neil Diamond’s Hello Again plays /unexpectedly, like in the produce section, /and my mind is there all over again: his /sleeping, smiling face broadcast across /the marquee of my mind. Like an encore...”
Then in Making a Choice, this: “Instead of all this silence, tell me you /know what I did, tell me you hate me. /Kick me, scratch me, threaten to throw /daggers into my eyes, but don’t do this...”
I mentioned earlier that there are some hard situations here, and A Girl’s Choice is one such. As is Little Donna.
An unusual poem, and a favourite here, is Rockefeller Center. I am not competent to give a decent feel for this short poem in a quote: it is a narrative neatly and compellingly done, with a small twist at the ending that closes the poem like a shut mouth.
For a brilliant dash of bitterness, turn to Thank You.
I will only comment on The Stoop that, in some sense, I have been there. I hope our readers have not.
I have other favourites in this collection, too many to quote. I am rating this book at five stars. My personal guidelines, when doing any review, are as follows: five stars means, roughly equal to best in genre. Rarely given. Four stars means, extremely good. Three stars means, definitely recommendable. I am a tough reviewer. I try hard to be consistent.
This book easily stands with some great poets of old: tougher than Frost, more personal than Sandburg, more human, most of the time, than W.H.Auden. This is writing from the gut into your brain and life. Five stars it is, and extremely recommended.
September 26, 2016
Heather Awad's latest collection of poetry, The Lovely Brush, is introspective, insightful, thought-provoking, highly relatable, and thoroughly delightful! Awad has a keen ability to paint beautiful pictures with her words, using vivid descriptions and wonderful metaphors. The Lovely Brush is an enjoyable follow-up to her debut collection, The Girl with The Blue Umbrella. I highly recommend this book! -- L.M.Giannone, Author
September 7, 2016
I read this piece and it was one of the best books I have read in a long time. The poems are diverse in the range of styles: free writing, 4 lines per stanza and 2 lines per stanza. The book uses metaphors and a steady rhythm throughout the piece to discuss life, family conflict and life without conflict. Heather didn't need to depend on alliteration and other poetry tricks; instead, you can feel her raw, exposed emotional state throughout the pieces, no matter if she was an actor or bystander. The book transitions through many emotional states, and discusses many everyday issues we have in the most beautiful, graphic light. I highly recommend this book: my favorite pieces were Bird World, A Secret, Exfoliating, September, Heaven Sent, A Girl's Dream, Taking Photos, Blocked, It Really Won't Matter To You, Daddy's Girl, Outer Space and Adoption. No matter if the piece was ironic, an allegory or situational, Heather writes with so much emotion that what would be empathy becomes your own reality, You feel her emotional state with the breathiness of her words, and you feel like this could be about your own life.
October 13, 2016
I wrote of relatable Heather Awad's debut poetry collection was when I finished it, and her follow up book of poems, The Lovely Brush, is certainly no different. The one difference is just how much her poetry has blossomed between the collections.
Heather is a contemporary poet that largely draws from ordinary themes and observations for her poetry. Like Christina Strigas or even Ellen Bass, she shines a light into the overlooked corners of her life and settles them before her readers for study and dissection. Work, parenting, sex, relationships, conversations, her flawed childhood; she highlights them all in the strategic and natural placement of her lines. She is a fearless poet. She writes of her life with an understanding that strangers will see her personally.
And thank god for that.
Heather is a contemporary poet that largely draws from ordinary themes and observations for her poetry. Like Christina Strigas or even Ellen Bass, she shines a light into the overlooked corners of her life and settles them before her readers for study and dissection. Work, parenting, sex, relationships, conversations, her flawed childhood; she highlights them all in the strategic and natural placement of her lines. She is a fearless poet. She writes of her life with an understanding that strangers will see her personally.
And thank god for that.
February 11, 2017
What I like most about Heather Awad's poetry is that it is filled with experiences and emotions we can all relate to. She expresses herself, her emotions, and her life experiences in a magical language, yet her poetry remains down to earth and easily accessible. Her poems speak to the reader on so many different levels. This wonderful collection, along with The Girl With the Blue Umbrella, will remain on my favorites shelf to be read again and again.
September 11, 2016
Slow and methodical poems set the pace for pieces infused with life, love and loss. I love poetry with rhythm and these pieces did just that without rhyme. Each word was placed with care and each poem lends vivid imagery to your mind. I enjoyed many of the pieces but Darling Teenager spoke to me on all levels as my daughter is transitioning into teen hood now. Beautiful collection of poems.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews