You'll Come Back to Yourself

by Michaela Angemeer

You'll Come Back to Yourself explores themes of lost love, infidelity, depression, body image, and ultimately the power women have in learning to choose themselves. Separated into three sections: Holding On, Ouroboros, and Letting Go, this collection is a cyclical expedition of self discovery.

Genres: Poetry, Self Help, Nonfiction, Romance, Mental Health, Love, Psychology

139 pages, Paperback

First published August 18, 2019

About the author

Michaela Angemeer (she/they) is a queer Canadian poet who’s passionate about sharing her healing journey and inspiring readers to spend more time with their feelings.

They’ve published five best-selling collections of poetry including When He Leaves You, You’ll Come Back to Yourself, Please Love Me at My Worst, Poems for the Signs, and There Is Room for All of You Here.

Michaela’s newest book, Please Look into the Mirror, is about facing the darkness to find light. Separated into three sections: Glass, Mirror, and Reflection, it’s about the mother wound, gaining a deeper sense of self, learning to take accountability and finding relief in cycle breaking.

Michaela lives in Kitchener, Ontario with her Frenchton, Bea. You can find her intently browsing thrift stores, ordering tapas at local restaurants or on her couch yapping to her girlfriend.

Get in touch on TikTok & Instagram: @michaelapoetry

Reviews

[Ames · Rating 4 out of 5]

"you deserve a call me anytime love, a pick me up from the airport love, a love note on napkins kind of love, a chicken noodle soup for sore throats kind of love, a back rub before bed kind of love, a reminder to get up ten minutes earlier because it snowed and you're going to have to clean off your car kind of love, a clean your car for you kind of love, a bring you cheesecake when you're sad kind of love, a listening love, a love that takes care of you, a love that sees your messy hair, your morning breath, your spiralling mind, your no sleep crankiness, a love that loves you more for it. You deserve a requited love, a love that lasts."
I bought this book because of the relationship/situationship/talking stage - whatever you want to call it, was ending. Did it end before? Who knows. Anyways, i saw this page on tiktok and immediately started sobbing.

"Can you let go of someone without forgetting how they made you feel?"
I read this in one sitting. I got the journal version and filled bits and cried and cried and cried. I read some poems multiple times. I wrote them down. I stuck post it's on my wall and I'm reminding myself all the time - remember this. "Why do we keep loving people who can't love us back?"

[Victory · Rating 5 out of 5]

A book I read when I am going through heartbreak. When someone hurts you so much you feel like you won't recover from it. A pain that makes it so hard for you to breathe. The pain where you can't eat or sleep for weeks/ months. When after a whole year you find yourself stuck on that one person and the pain comes back over and over again like it did the day they left. When you go through days where you're doing perfectly fine and days where everything reminds you of them and you find it hard to get out of bed. And a book you also find yourself crying to when you finally move on completely. A book I go to when I need to remind myself that the most important love in my life is my own self love. My tears have dried in the pages of this book. It's interesting how many people can break your heart in different ways, but make you feel the same pain that writers are able to write about it and make you feel less alone. I feel this book helps you understand how you're feeling and allows you to cry to it when the wound is fresh or when you've been picking at the wound even when you thought you healed. However, this book also helps remind you of your self worth and that even though it may seem like you'll ever move on or recover from that pain, you'll come back to yourself.

[shanayaa · Rating 3 out of 5]

➳ 𝟑/𝟓 𝙨𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙨

❞𝙣𝙤𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙞𝙨 𝙢𝙤𝙧𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙣𝙜𝙚𝙧𝙤𝙪𝙨 𝙩𝙝𝙖𝙣 𝙖 𝙡𝙞𝙚 𝙨𝙖𝙞𝙙 𝙬𝙞𝙩𝙝 𝙖 𝙨𝙢𝙞𝙡𝙚❞

I didn't find it as enjoyable as I initially expected, but it was still a reasonably decent read 🫶🏻

[Ola · Rating 1 out of 5]

there needs to be an extensive study done on the devastating effects that rupi kaur “poetry” had on this genre, because we’ve been letting people get away with thinking this instagram quote bullshit is talent for too long.

[Jessi ❤️ H. Vojsk [if villain, why hot?] · Rating 4 out of 5]

maybe i like boys
with broad shoulders
and thick necks
maybe i like girls
with long eyelashes
and upturned noses
but mostly
maybe i just like people
with warm hands
loud laughs
and good hearts

Loved a few of them. 🤍

[Julia Deptuła · Rating 1 out of 5]

i will start off by saying that i dont think im the intended audience for this book. but that being said - meh. it felt really lazy and just tumblr 2014. i like 2 poems (i think) and thats only because i was going through a heartbreak.

[Bobby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Except 4 or 5 poems which are kinda good the rest feels more like Insta-poetry or sentences cut as poems. It’s kinda meh.

[bailey ♡ · Rating 5 out of 5]

in tears

[Soha Ashraf · Rating 3 out of 5]

“i knew everything about who
i wanted you to be
and nothing about who you really were”

An emotional collection of poetry about getting over a heartbreak and self-love.

[Rose · Rating 2 out of 5]

⭐️ 2.5 stars ⭐️

[Fleur · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars from me. Another book I’d categorise as “Instagram-poetry”, but certainly better, in my opinion, than others I’ve read. Contemporary, relatable poems—many of which worth reading twice or three times in a row at different paces. A little dragging at times; I would’ve liked a some more variety, but all in all worth a read for the heartbroken. Especially the ones in the in-between of holding on and letting go.

Punctuation? We don’t know her.

[ele (taylor’s version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book represents the behind the scenes of each person. Written very well. I recommend it.

[Lilouae · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't understand this type of poetry, it's simply not for me.

I don't understand how this is considered poetry. The structure of the poem seems completely random to me, as if it was shuffled and placed into random segments to make it seems like verses.

Some "poems" are nice, but most of them just feel like stereotypical positive affirmations.

To me, most are nothing more than thoughts that you write on a post-it note and stick to your mirror, or just thoughts you write in your diary.

I don't
Get it.
It doesn't feel
Like poetry
To me.

Hey look! I'm a poet too 💕

[Bleona · Rating 1 out of 5]

I wish people would stop calling their twitter/insta drafts poetry

[Shea ☾⚂ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of the poems were so descriptive and on those ones I really liked her writing style

[¡ mel ⋆ · Rating 3 out of 5]

poetry ❤️‍🩹

"I am shining.
there are a million beads of light.
where did all this light come from?
who kept turning it off?
and how did I go so long without feeling happy?
.
.
you'll come back to yourself."

💌

[Emma Eaton · Rating 1 out of 5]

There were some good quotes but they were all pretty cliche. I just don’t think I am a big fan of poetry

[Edna · Rating 1 out of 5]

this might be the worst (poetry) book ive read in my whole entire life

[potatq · Rating 2 out of 5]

In my humble opinion, this felt like it was written by a moony emo highschooler going through a heavy tumblr phase (no shame in that). But as far as poetry goes, this didn’t do it for me as a lot of these felt like ramblings in a teenage diary. Plus most of these weren’t anything new, majority of the poems felt like I already saw them in mainstream media.

1 star for the few poems that were actually good and another star for a few great lines hidden within mediocre poems.

[Insa · Rating 2 out of 5]

it wasn‘t badly written, I just found it kind of boring

[Chloe Evans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful. Wish I found this sooner

[RiRi💌 (back in January) · Rating 4 out of 5]

“start opening up your heart
to people
who are good for it“

[Kennedy Erdman · Rating 2 out of 5]

It is possible I’ve been in a healthy relationship too long to resonate with a poetry collection centering around a breakup. That being said, this was trying so hard to be Rupi Kaur and everything felt recycled from other modern poets or even 2012 Tumblr.

[Cassie ♡ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Most of these poems relate to heartbreak. I couldn't relate to some of the messages, but there were some that resonated with me. I like the overall message.

[✮demi✮ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've never been in love but I could sort of relate to some of this. The words just spoke to my soul. It was really sad to read but I did fall in love with the words and image they painted.
This has also encouraged me to read more poetry and I loved it. Not on a 5 star level because again, I can't relate to being in love so I guess that took away part of the reading experience but it was still lovely. If you want a quick poetry read about heartbreak and life, I would highly recommend this.

⋆｡°✩₊☾₊✩°｡⋆ my favorite lines ⋆｡°✩₊☾₊✩°｡⋆

i've never been one to show
the insides of my soul first
but resistance to closeness
pulls me in for reasons
i do know
but do not like to talk about
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. * ੈ✩‧₊˚

don't plant seeds of commitment
in my mind
if you never intend to water them
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. * ੈ✩‧₊˚

i knew everything about who
i wanted you to be
and nothing about who you really were
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. * ੈ✩‧₊˚

i am having a funeral for
all the texts you typed
then deleted before
sending me
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. * ੈ✩‧₊˚

and i will keep asking
even if you never hear me
can you let go of someone
without forgetting how they made you feel?
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. * ੈ✩‧₊˚

i am no longer soft
i built this city on
broken spines
and cracked open rib cages
my collar bones
prop up street lamps
femurs line railroads
tibias stacked to build straw homes
my smashed skull is why
no one lives here anymore
i am sorry you expected
petals when
all i'll ever have
are bones
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. * ੈ✩‧₊˚

it is the sound of happiness
seeping out of me
but the ghosts around here
cast shadows of sadness
loneliness
i just want someone
to be happy with
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. * ੈ✩‧₊˚

but when i write
the ocean fills up my eyes
i am reminded that salt is healing
and words hurt less with eyes closed
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. * ੈ✩‧₊˚

but you forget that women were made to burn. women were made to rise again. a phoenix born from ashes. one look, and you'll become dust.
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. * ੈ✩‧₊˚

you can share yourself
without losing pieces of you
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. * ੈ✩‧₊˚

when the future
feels far off
and you can't see
through the fog
don't forget to look
for right now,
right in front of you
‧₊˚ ☁️⋅♡𓂃 ࣪ ִֶָ☾. * ੈ✩‧₊˚

[scar! . *. ⋆ (Johnny kavanaghs version) · Rating 3 out of 5]

“and just like the new moon you will rebuild you will become whole again”

[Melly-Jade Fournier · Rating 3 out of 5]

«don’t plant seeds of commitment
in my mind
if you never intend to water them»

[m ✨ · Rating 4 out of 5]

“I’m sorry
You were afraid
Of my kind of love”


3,5 ⭐️

[Arune · Rating 2 out of 5]

The description is false. They should write it how it is - ‘poems about an ex or a man I was obsessing about who had another girl and at the end I tried to love myself but still talked about boys.’

The poems were pretty don’t get me wrong, but I’m not at this stage in life anymore where I wanna cry about my past lovers lol I have no interest in reading about someone else’s past love related hurts either.
Almost every poem starts or finishes with ‘you’, ‘without you’, ‘missing you’.
I was rolling my eyes half of the time.

90% of the book is about, I assume, an ex and how hurt the women is. Only a few poems didn’t contain that.

I’m not saying the poems are all bad, but when I read the description I imagined it going in a totally different direction. That’s what disappointment me the most.


But even though these types of poems aren’t my cup of tea here is one that I liked:

“i just want a brick by brick love story

please, men:

where’s the concrete

foundation where you know


what you’re looking for

and i know i’m it

all we’ve got are

leaky water beds


my knees are soaked from trying

to balance your instability


the sopping wet floor where

you left your promises to drown

is bound to cave in


give me cement

i’m tired of picking feathers out

from between my teeth

so here i sit

in barren land with dirt-stained knees

don’t plant seeds of commitment

in my mind

if you never intend to water them”

[Julia Willows · Rating 1 out of 5]

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to find the figurative language in anything around me. And anyone who knows anything about poetry knows that that’s like, poetry’s whole thing. The hidden meaning.
I have no hate for any art, especially the vulnerable and raw pieces that poetry tends to be. I didn’t hate this collection. But my taste in poems just isn’t “Writing three lines (eleven words total) and claiming inspiration from Rupi Kaur”. Now, Kaur is a great poet who copes with horrible situations through writing. So are Angemeer and plenty of other poets. And it works for many people: they enjoy the poems, they feel things, and maybe they are inspired to write their own. That’s what art is all about!
But I don’t find it enjoyable at all. Page after page of three to five line poems, centred on the same topic, using the same formatting, repeating the word ‘love’ in every sentence. I swear I read the same poem four times in this collection. It is normal and healthy to write many times about a situation that deeply affected you, but please, put some variance in your collection. Make some cuts. Make a collection that takes longer than ten minutes to finish despite being 140 pages. And, if this is your third collection about having your heart broken by men, please start dating a woman.
Art is subjective. I would recommend Angemeer to anyone who likes short and simple poems or is looking for a short read.