The Truth of You: Poetry About Love, Life, Joy, and Sadness

by Iain S. Thomas

This is the truth of you.
Because you are all I see.
Because you are all I breathe.
Because when I cannot find you, I am lost.
Because when I’m with you, I am found.
Because you have the fire of the universe in you, and sometimes you forget.
So this book is here to remind you.

Dear You,
 
I want you to know that I see you.  
 
I want you to know that even if no one else does, even if you are a ghost in this bookshop, or just the static floating across the screen of your computer, wherever you’re reading this, I see you.
 
I see you in the dark and I see you in the grey. I see you as a story, as words I have spoken or may yet speak. Maybe only in a memory or a dream.
 
I see your hands and your arms and your body and your legs and your face and I see what you have been and what you will be. I see you and in looking at you, I want you to know that whoever you’ve had to be to survive all this, I will not look away.
 
I want you to know that there’s a space inside this book for you.
 
So if you have the time and the inclination, you can sit here with me, just for a while.
 
And perhaps between us, we can see everything that matters.
 
-pleasefindthis

Genres: Poetry, Adult, Nonfiction, Contemporary

240 pages, Paperback

Published March 23, 2021

About the author

"Iain S. Thomas is the #1 bestselling author of I Wrote This For You and Intentional Dissonance. He wrote his first book, Ignite, at the age of 23 for the Markham clothing store. It won the Grand Prix at the First Paper House Art Of Design Awards and the only craft prize awarded that year, in the design category, at the national design/advertising awards (The Loeries).

As a creative director, he’s a champion for innovative design and communication for his clients which have included Nike, Levi’s, Johnny Walker, The Design Indaba, MTN, apple and many more, from Los Angeles, to Amsterdam, to Johannesburg, to Cape Town. His work has spanned everything from monuments to biodegradable posters.

In 2009, for his work as the author of the art/photography project “I Wrote This For You”, he was voted one of the top 5 finalists in the world in the “Best Blogger To Follow” category on mashable.com under his online pseudonym, pleasefindthis.

The project, which has proven incredibly popular across the world and gone on to become a best selling book, has also afforded him numerous exciting opportunities, including an invitation to dinner with the US Ambassador to South Africa, Donald Gipps as a consultant on digital development within South Africa, and a speaking spot at TEDx Johannesburg.

Through the project, he was also able to have skateboards delivered to The Uganda Skateboard Union on behalf of Stacy Peralta, director of Dogtown And Z-Boys and Riding Giants and he’s previously acted as a creative consultant to Brian Wayne Transeau or “BT” (whose previous collaborators include Peter Gabriel, Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and David Bowie, amongst others) on his last album, If The Stars Are Eternal, So Are You And I.

His work has won numerous local and international awards and can be found in Communication Arts, Design Indaba Magazine, Ad Vantage Magazine, bestadsontv.com, Contagious Magazine, Archive, The University of Pretoria’s Permanent Design Collection, X-ings: Shaping Culture Through Design Exhibition, The United Nations Gallery of Sustainable Communication, TEDx, Heso Magazine (Japan) and http://www.inpursuitofelegance.com

Iain’s work focuses on non-traditional media in all its forms. He has never once really and truly enjoyed a long walk on a beach." - source

Reviews

[Vero Exposito · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.25 Stars

This was not bad but I didn’t exactly love it. It was an okay book, therefore 3 stars but I gave it the .25 because of the final poem. Okay I know I’m a sap let me be.

Now, the poems in this book some were good and maybe one or two even made me emotional but most kinda felt short for me.

I couldn’t connect with them and I just felt they were a little bit tumblr, don’t get me wrong I like my tumblr poems, but I wasn’t looking for that in this book.

Overall this wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t extraordinary and it wasn’t the emotional level I was looking for myself in this read. If you want read it, maybe you’ll like it more than me.

Btw I haven’t studied anything in regards of idk literature, English or like poetry this is just my personal, humble, respectful opinion. Who knows maybe this is like super duper amazing and I didn’t get some of the poems cause of my small brain 🤷‍♀️.

[Yesenia (bookbrunette) · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. Thank you!

"The Truth of You" is a beautiful poetry collection whose words express the love and sadness we all experience at some point in our lives. It would be hard to read through this selection and not feel some kind of connection to the words on the page. I'm sure most readers will be able to relate to many of the poems in this book. Thomas does an excellent job writing about happiness, loneliness, grief, and love. Though not all of the works are attention grabbers, the book certainly does its job of making the reader reflect on themselves and their own feelings.

[Natalie all_books_great_and_small · Rating 5 out of 5]

I received an advance reader copy of this book to listen to in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

****AUDIO BOOK VERSION****
The Truth of you, written and narrated by Iain S. Thomas is a captivating and relatable book of poetry all relating to everyday life and relate to love, joy, sadness, happiness, children, family and life in general.
Each of these poems are beautifully told and Iains voice is relaxing and entrancing. I couldn't pull myself away from listening to these poems.
A few of the poems brought tears to my eyes they were so beautiful and told in a new, fresh perspective.
This is a book I would love to own a copy of so I can revisit it time and time again as it is certainly one I deeply felt and connected with.
Thank you for such a beautiful work of poetry.

[Debbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Modern, non-rhyming poetry is usually a hit or miss for me; when it’s done well, it really connects with me, but when it’s not it usually ends up being fairly anticlimactic. Luckily, the former is the case with The Truth of You.

Despite many of the poems exploring fairly straightforward subject matter, this poetry collection does an excellent job of bringing a fresh perspective to the common themes of sadness, love, joy and navigating life. It perfectly straddles the line between crafting poems that are relatable and easy to connect with, and incorporating a deeper perspective or new exploration of the topic at hand to keep things interesting and avoid compiling a surface-level, generic collection.

One element I most appreciated about this collection was that none of the poems felt like throwaways. Though not even poem was a favorite or particularly resonated with me, they all felt well-crafted and thoughtful, rather than added in to reach a page goal, which I’ve unfortunately encountered with some other poetry collections.

Overall, I’m excited to give more of Iain S. Thomas’s poetry collections a try. Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Publishing for a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

RTC

[Julia Sapphire · Rating 3 out of 5]

(TW: Anxiety, Grief, Death, Depression)
3.5*

[Carolt_reads · Rating 4 out of 5]

“Sometimes people lie to you, because they just want to break something good to see what it looks like when it shatters.”

I received an ARC for this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review! Thank you!

I decided to pick this book up because Iain S Thomas “every word you cannot say“ was one of my favorite reads of 2020! However this book did not make me feel all of those wonderful emotions I felt reading his other book! It was still powerful but I felt it to be a bit repetitive at times!! I would still recommend it as I think everyone can find a poem to relate to in this collection! Overall I’m giving this book 4/5 stars!!

[Trisha · Rating 3 out of 5]

3 hopeful stars.

I really like the spilled ink sort of poetry where things are expressed so openly and raw. This whole collection felt very spilled ink and I enjoyed the latter sections more than the earlier ones. Overall, I liked another poetry collection by Thomas more than this but there were a few times I felt a little choked up. The ending notes got to me because the past few years have been so rough. It's beautiful and wonderful to have and hold onto hope. To spread it out for others to grasp onto as well. I'm not sure why I felt such a disconnect for most of this but I will go and read a few other collections to see how I feel.

[Nima Morgan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lain S. Thomas does not disappoint as he soothes one's soul with his poetry and his voice, now that is a great combination. Mr. Thomas's poetry has a place for everyone and anyone who can find solace and comfort in his words. Definitely worth listening to again and again. Thank you to NetGalley and Andrews McMeel Audio and Publishing for giving me this opportunity to listen and review this book. #NetGalley, #AndrewsMcMeelAudio. #AndrewsMcMeelPublishing

[Lindsey Domokur · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love poetry and have been reading more and more of it lately. These poems were so relatable to so many points in my life that I felt myself really letting them sink in deep and reflecting on the words that were said. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who likes to feel. The narration was good, but the background music was a little distracting at times.

[Katherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its been a while since I came across a collection of poetry that could and boggle me at the same time. "The truth of you" is a simple yet one of the best compilation of pure emotional poetry with dashes of the conflicts of the lives well lived. Spans across various themes, the poet incredibly lets his imagination create magic and pours it out in form of intelligent synchronisation of words. The poems that were themed around family were my favorite because they had this unfathomable charm of sweetness, united feeling of love and affection that touched my heart.

Another aspect that I absolutely loved was all poems were written without any vulgarity. At times I have read poems where the poet tries to supposedly engage and awaken the dominant feelings of a reader by masking them in form of vulgar language and if not by being down right offensive. And not everyone is going to be comfortable going across all of that and I know that's why there are trigger warnings and all but sometimes it get missed by. However, this book doesn't contain any of that ultimately enhancing it to a graceful and overall a delightful read. I'd definitely recommend it to all the poetry readers. Happy Reading!

[Gabriela (taylor's version) · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collection of poems was so beautiful! The writing amazed me and I felt connected to so many pieces. A brilliant author, I'll definitely have in mind when I'm searching for poetry.

[Mabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

At was amazing... I smiled and cried, I thought of things from yrs ago and remembered I am enough.

[Taylor J · Rating 5 out of 5]

These poems spoke to my heart in the way I needed a loved one to speak to me. Iain put my thoughts and feelings into words I could never figure out how to say. This book felt like that long, warm hug you get from your favorite grandparent when they haven’t seen you in a while and they know just by looking in your eyes that you’ve been through so much in that time, so they add an extra squeeze at the end. I felt my heart open up and emotions I didn’t realize I had bottled up flowed out of me by the end. I cried because I finally understood the messages others have tried to tell me and didn’t know how to convey. This is definitely a poetry book I will keep with me. I’ll reread it when I feel lost and need a reminder. I know one day I’ll find someone else that needs these messages and, when I can’t seem to convey them properly, I’ll be able to hand them this book. Thank you so much for sharing these poems.

[Lexie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this book . I lot of good poems about excepting yourself and giving yourself time . I definitely recommend!

[Jacqui · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was one of the best books of poetry that I have ever read. I read it in one sitting. I laughed and I cried. I pondered the words and re-evaluated my situation.

I don't know if the poetry is as good as I thought or if it was just perfect for me today. But I am grateful for having read it.

[Jules McHale · Rating 4 out of 5]

very deep, contains a lot of overthinking. i liked it.

[JesScribe · Rating 5 out of 5]

★★★★★
This is my first five star poetry book that I hit all of the marks for me.
A beckoning collection that truly speaks through the courage, strength and love that goes into being the best version of yourself. I found it equal parts lyrical, and forthcoming, which made for an eclectic experience.
As I've said before, poetry is completely subjective. But for me, almost every one of these poems spoke to me in profound ways. Maybe I just needed it during this season of my life, and picked it up at the right time but I am holding onto a lot of these words, and will come back to them time and time again when I am need of hearing them.

[Callum McLaughlin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This is a case of a poetic style that just isn’t for me, sadly. Without wanting to sound dismissive of the writer’s work, it’s what I would describe as very surface level, with most of the pieces barely a few lines long. In this respect, most feel like the rough outline of an idea, rather than a fleshed-out poem.

There’s no depth to mine in terms of word choice, rhythm, imagery, structure, and so on. Instead, everything is presented in a straight-forward, matter-of-fact way that makes the collection read more like a thought journal. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, and I don’t doubt those who enjoy sentimental writing presented in an earnest way will find more to connect with. It’s certainly contemporary and accessible, good perhaps for those who otherwise feel intimidated by the form. But for me, it aimed so stringently for universal relatability that it failed to bring anything new or interesting to the table on a thematic or linguistic level.

Thank you to the publisher for a free advanced copy in exchange for an honest review.

[Radwa · Rating 3 out of 5]

English Review Below.

مجموعة شعرية، لكنها أقرب إلى النصوص النثرية منها إلى الشعر. تتحدث المجموعة في أغلبها عن الحب والفقد والأمل والعلاقات وتقبل النفس وحب الذات وبعض القصائد مصحوبة برسومات بالأبيض والأسود، القصائد قصيرة جدا، وكثير منها كانت 5 سطور. بعضها كان مؤثر، ولكن مثل مجموعات كثيرة من هذا النوع، كانت هناك بعض التكرارية في الأفكار.
كتاب لطيف وسهل القراءة، لكنه ليس كتابي الشعري المفضل الجديد مثلا.

A collection of prose in the shape of poetry. I liked these writings, but I couldn't really see it as poetry. This collection talks about love, relationships, hope, accepting yourself and loving yourself. Some of them were quite memorable and emotional, but as it tends to happen with collections like this, there was some repetition. It was also accompanied by some black-and-white drawings.

I liked the first half more, but it's a nice and relaxing read.

I thank Netgalley and Andrews McMeel for the digital ARC

[Melissa · Rating 5 out of 5]

I LOVE this book!!! The poems are beautiful and will be read over and over. I will be getting copies for the women in my family! Thank you Andrews McNeel Publishing for approving my request to read and review.

[Julie Paden · Rating 4 out of 5]

I typically struggle to connect with poetry, so it feels like a big win for me that I really enjoyed a lot of these!

[Sanaa Hyder · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This poetry collection is divided into sections. Each builds onto the next. It feels like the story of a person — young and still relatively new to the dangers of the world — falling blindly in love, to the extent that all they see is the person they're in love with. And then inevitably, they're left alone, heartbroken, drowning in their pain and diminishing self worth. They fall in love again and it's all wrong again. I could taste the bitterness in these poems, especially when they attributed blame to God. But thankfully, there's more. Because if it's wasn't, then this book would not be as important as it promises to be at the start. The second half of the book shines more brightly than the first. The section titled 'In which we hope' was definitely my favourite.

A lot of these poems read like affirmations. Some of them are prose poems. What drew me into reading this book, however, was Thomas' opening letter(s) to the reader:

Dear you,
I want you to know that I see you.

Something got stuck in my throat as I read Thomas' letters — in the description (cover) of the book, at the start and at the end. He signs two of them "—pleasefindthis". I love the urgency in that phrase. It shows the writer really cares about the reader; even if the reader does not care about the poems just yet.

I read this book over the course of many weeks and took my time thinking about some of the poems. My favourites included:
'An Infinite Line': which in five short lines describes every poet in love
'A Key Lost in a Field': which encourages one to allow sincere love in
'A State of Being': all of the lovely imagery — a bird, a secret memory in someone's head, rising strings in a song, coffee at your favorite café, light shining through the leaves...
'A Lion Going to Sleep': a gesture of affirmation (of love)
'A Cloud of Dust': how time apart from loved one(s) does not mean they are not thinking of the other
'A Swimming Pool': another sappy love poem
'A Thing You Cannot Point At': encouragement to not be part of the generational trauma that taught children how to love dysfunctionally
'A Voice from Your Past': how parental criticism can become the (dominant) voice in your head
'A Long Shadow': demands that you can be a role model for others too
'A Silver Door': urging writers to write because what they write does indeed matter

Finally, bold (e.g. dark snowy mountain peaks) and delicate (e.g. a dandelion struck by wind) illustrations intersperse the poems, adding to the loveliness of some of these gems. Thomas calls this collection 'this shared land', inviting readers to visit the book again and again...when required, as needed.

Would recommend this book if you're looking for an easy-to-grasp free verse poetry collection, which leaves you feeling seen.

[Marissa Mariano · Rating 5 out of 5]

I listened to this on audio and omg I LOVED IT! The narrator was soothing and I related to every single poem... it truly made me think about my life and my circumstances and I honestly can’t say enough good things! I highly recommend you picking this book up either physical or audio because I think everyone needs to hear this!

[Brittany · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book left out in the rain
A reflection in broken glass
Taillights in the distance
A shadow in a flame
A ripple
A firework that doesn't light
A Catherine wheel
A regret
A moment of clarity
A day in bed
A lion going to sleep
An empty chair
A bright forest
A small thing that matters
A vector
A line in the sand

"There is no magic or mystery to assholes"

[Raoul Bascon · Rating 4 out of 5]

This collection of poems surprised me. I enjoyed many of them, “mmmed” to quite a few, bookmarked some for me, bookmarked some for others, disagreed with three or four but liked them anyways. The poet has a clever way of titling this works, and I always enjoyed figuring out the connection between the two.

[Marian · Rating 5 out of 5]

I got this on a whim at target while my ice cream was melting in my basket and one of the poems made me cry in between the rest of the books so I had to pay for that experience of catharsis and the rest of the collection was just as lovely and I'm grateful for it.

[Samreads_alot · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every word carefully placed, intricately thought, and abundantly loved.
Thank you for sharing this with the world.

[Kari Napier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love his poetry!!

[Sara C · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was full of meaningful lessons about life and reminded me of the beauty of life. It reminded me that sometimes we have to be grateful for what we have. Yet it also touches on the pain we experience and this described it perfectly. I loved this book!