Reflections on Healing: poems

by Rachel Oates

Reflections on Healing is the first 17 poem collection of poetry and photography from Rachel Oates, who is best known for her Youtube channel often featuring feminist-focused poetry and book analysis.

Her poems depict her journey towards healing from trauma on both an analytical and emotional level, as she tries to make sense of her experiences with difficult families, abusive relationships, mental health struggles and taking back control of her own body.

This collection includes the poem, Romb, about remaining childfree and the importance of bodily autonomy and choice for all AFAB people, which was first performed at Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts 2022 with Heard Collective.

Please be aware this book discusses healing from domestic violence, abuse and self-harm.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction, Mental Health, Feminism

82 pages, Paperback

Published November 17, 2022

Reviews

[Rachel Oates · Rating 5 out of 5]

I may be a little biased having wrote the book but… 🤫🤫🤫🤫

[Scarlet · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

This collection is extremely personal and brave. I enjoyed many of the poems in here, and I see a lot of work went into the creation of the whole book, from the writing to the photography. The sense of rhythm and form is clearly there, and many poetic techniques are used really well. Her art and photography are also stunning.

Some critiques:
- I personally much preferred the in colour photographs (though this might be just a me thing)
- I felt some of the ideas and emotions could be explored a bit more and have some more nuance, instead of being told to us

There's a LOT of potential. Excited to see where Rachel goes from here! I am very happy for her and implore you all to check out her website and channel.

[Angel · Rating 4 out of 5]

I've followed Rachel for a while and was happy to see her finally releasing her own collection!

This collection contains 17 poems, some paired with Rachel's photographs. The photographs selected for inclusion are gorgeous and inspired.

I think the poems in this book really seek to soothe one's inner child. Speaking directly to the wounds within and the unhealed parts of you not ready to be addressed- Oates writes about these themes in a way that is both gentle and thoughtful. I'd recommend this book especially to young girls who are struggling to give themselves permission to feel the way they do, which is often a first step in the process of healing and letting go.

Looking forward to more work from Rachel!

[Rachel · Rating 5 out of 5]

~ 4.5✰ rounded to 5✰ ~

Great debut poetry collection! I was in awe of her use of imagery + really enjoyed how raw and full of emotion these poems were. The themes ranged from abuse + trauma to women's issues to self-harm so it wasn't an easy read by any means; however, these are topics that are worth discussing + I appreciated her being brave enough to share her experiences. Looking forward to reading more of her work in the future!

[Mayra · Rating 4 out of 5]

*thank you SO MUCH Rachel Oates for providing me with a copy of your book.

[Georgina · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel Oates , has written a beautiful collection of poems . That was relatable expression of how emotional abuse can feel. It helped me feel less alone. I cannot fault it.

[ཐི♡ཋྀ Ellius ཐི♡ཋྀ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love love love this book. Definitely a favourite of 2024 and it was a highlight of my very shitty couple of months.

I’ve watched Rachel’s videos for around a year now and I’ve wanted this book most of that time, I think her videos are creative, fun and informative and I think the same with this book. It’s absolutely gorgeously written and made me nearly cry several times.

The story of the cover and the photos also made me very emotional and inspired.

The stories told and rawness of the topics are truly beautifully conveyed, and I appreciate the trigger warnings on the back cover.

I think that while it was a little short it’s a beautiful book that I’ll be sharing with all my friends, this is definitely my favourite poetry collection.

9.5/10. I also love octopuses.









⭐️⭐️FAVOURITE POEMS⭐️⭐️


3. Puppet master
2. Repeating cycles
1. Romb

[Leia · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've followed Rachel Oates for years and seeing her finally publish her first poetry collection made me (parasocially) proud lol. Considering she's a large reason for my love of poetry, I obviously had to get this, and I was not disappointed. Reflections on Healing is absolutely beautiful in both its poetry and photography. It felt like a very intimate experience of which I enjoyed every second. I'm so excited to see what she'll do in the future.

[Tammi · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was not happy with this book. It has fewer poems than most chapbooks but sells it for the same price as a standard poetry collection. The poems in the book are mostly mediocre. I thought only one or two poems were legitimately good, but most were terrible to average. Rachel overuses literary devices in ways that feel divorced from the poem's message or in ways that are distracting to the reader.

Rachel's editing ability is poor, and it is embarrassing that she is selling her fans a (not inexpensive) book that is riddled with errors. My copy had a ton of typos that were not just Yorkshire dialect based, and at least two or three poems felt like they were still in the first or second draft version.

Now, I have generally liked Rachel, and I enjoy her poetry reviews. I'm also glad many in Rachel's audience enjoy this book and have found it encouraging. But I don't honestly think that anyone who is not one of Rachel's followers would see the merit of this book. It only holds up if you know her personality and channel.

[Ace Boggess · Rating 4 out of 5]

As a general rule, I don't buy self-published books. I was familiar with this author, however, from her YouTube series of videos, many of them focused on taking apart volumes of bad poetry. I felt pretty confident that I would find an interesting reading experience. The poems in this collection can best be described as "poetry as therapy," which is something I believe in deeply as its own sort of art. The poet/narrator (indistinguishable here) deals with past trauma, squeezing beauty out of suffering. While a few of the poems rely a little too heavily on so-so rhyme schemes that are the hallmark of a poet just beginning her journey, most of her free verse is penetrating, solid, and moving. The poems, however, are only half the book. Filling out the other half is a selection of the poet's photographic art which is mind-blowing in its quality. Even if the poems weren't good, this book would be worthwhile just for the art, much of it also in the "as therapy" category. Good stuff.

[Meg Fisher · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely enjoyed this poetry collection!!

Rachel Oates did a great job at exploring themes of relationship abuse, childhood trauma, healing through learning to love oneself, and the importance of giving women a choice on what they do with their bodies. Her imagery as well as metaphors were well crafted and vivid—she definitely has a natural talent for conveying strong and realistic emotions through these two literary devices.

My favorite poems in this book were, “Matches”, “Misery Symphony”, and “Romb”.

I cannot wait to read more from Rachel Oates in the future!!

[Garrison Kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

Rachel Oates has always had a complicated relationship with poetry, whether she was critiquing it on her You Tube channel or writing some of her own. But through it all, her writing skills shine brilliantly in this collection of poetry. She explores uncomfortable topics through a sensitive lens. Even when the poems don’t have happy endings, they never feel exploitative. They feel like she’s being true to herself and using her hurtful experiences to help others who are going through the same thing. In addition to helping other victims, these poems are also a middle finger to anybody who would ever beat or degrade another human being through the façade of compliments and love-bombing. Rachel Oates fancies herself a rookie in the poetry genre, but you wouldn’t know that from how expertly she handles the written word. That alone is worth an A grade.

One of my favorite poems in this book is Romb, a title which is not a typo, but a well-crafted pun. She talks about having a room to herself only for judgmental neighbors and men in suits to condescend to her and tell her how she should live in it. This is all of course a metaphor for her womb and how pro-life activists are every bit as nosy and intrusive as the people judging her room. Rachel says in one of her videos that a goal of poetry is to find innovative ways to say what the poet wants to say. She certainly lived up to her own advice in this poem and that’s a recurring theme throughout the entire book. She may be a rookie, but she’s a student first and foremost and is therefore a serial learner who takes in so much creative fuel before starting her projects. Learning doesn’t stop after graduating college. She’ll no doubt take this knowledge with her if she decides to put out another book of poetry.

Another poem I enjoyed was the much more disturbing Puppet Master, where she once again uses innovative comparisons to describe a serious topic, this time being abused by one of her now ex-boyfriends. Oh sure, the puppet master has pretty dolls and he assures you that you’re the prettiest of them all, different from the others. And through this manipulation and psychological torture, you believe these lies while becoming made of wood and strings yourself, strings that leave bruises from being tightly bound, and wood that doesn’t move until the puppet master says so. Thankfully, the poem ends on a high note of Rachel leaving her boyfriend and starting the healing process. But man, does this poem hit me where it hurts the most. While I’ve only had two romantic relationships in my whole life and neither of them were that bad in hindsight, I did have other people in my life bombard me with hate and then suck up to me with love and compliments. Rachel and I may both be atheists, but we can surely agree that there’s a special place in hell for people who gaslight and abuse their loved ones.

Of course, the other genre this book falls under is photography. She definitely has been engaging in this craft for a long period of time, judging from how professional and expressive each photo is. I especially like the one she took of downtown Southbank. Then again, cityscape photography has always been fascinating to me, whether it’s the bright lights, cool water, or beautiful colors in the sky. Honestly, Rachel could take pictures of mundane objects and it would still be considered great art by virtue of her own artistic integrity and personal lens (no pun intended). That’s the mark of a true artist: you know who made the art because their personal voice and point of view shines through in the most recognizable way possible.

This book is less than a hundred pages long, so you can breeze right by it in no time at all. But the poetry and photography will stay with you long after the reading experience is over. I will remember Rachel Oates’s work for the rest of my life, not only because of the raw vulnerability, but also because of the skill in which she executes her writing. I look forward to more publications from her, just as I always look forward to her upcoming You Tube videos. She smashes the stereotype of You Tubers being cash grabbers when it comes to publishing books. She’s serious about her craft and she will prove it to you over and over again until it stays with you forever. Noticing a theme here? Nothing less than five stars. Brilliant and heart-wrenching!

[Sam Sayers · Rating 4 out of 5]

Title: Reflections on Healing Poems
Author: Rachel Oates
Illustrator: Rachel Oates
Publisher: Amazon

Main Themes: abuse, bodily autonomy, family, hope, jealousy, mental health and relationships

I think the illustration on the front cover is beautiful - for me it makes me think of tendrils coming out of the heart searching for and finding healing as well as someone growing and developing which I think is a lovely sentiment.

I think I was maybe expecting a bit too much from this book. The woman who wrote it is a YouTuber who critiques poetry and she goes on about how really good poetry has many layers like an onion. However, I didn’t really find that in her poetry. Perhaps that’s because I haven’t analysed poetry myself since S5, but it just didn’t stand up against poets like Carol Ann Duffy. However, that is me comparing her to a lady who held the position of poet laureate of Scotland for ten years which is perhaps unfair. And to be fair, this is Rachel’s first attempt at a poetry book and she herself says she is still learning.

All that being said, I still really enjoyed the book and it had me reading poetry again, something I didn’t ever think would happen.

The book does contain absolutely gorgeous photography that really makes me feel something. The very first photograph in the book is of some trees. But there’s just something so sinister about it that you just can’t look away. It’s unsettling and I think it’s a great start to the book as the first poem is about an abusive childhood. Rachel has been a photographer far longer than a poet and I think it shows.

The first poem, ‘Childhood’, has some very striking, descriptive imagery that really helps you imagine the scene “(another plate thrown mid meal) congealed gravy crawls down cigarette stained walls” and then the rest of the poem just has very stark and frank descriptions of what’s happening that really hit you in the heart creating a really despondent reality. “Dad shuts himself upstairs, the blaring radio makes his silence scream louder.” “a child scrambles on hands and knees, picking up individual peas, handfuls of mash, and a slice of roast beef. Through red eyes and shaky breaths she alone picks up the pieces of a marriage long since cold.” So then at the end of the poem you find out the whole poem has been a metaphor for the broken marriage playing out in the poem. The food is cold like how the marriage is cold and dead. Very effective.

Then there’s the third poem in the book, ‘Red Kite’ which I did not understand at all. Maybe I’m missing something, but it made zero percent sense to me - and I think that’s a fault of the author.

Then, there’s my favourite line in the book in the poem ‘In Another Life’ “At home, too-small Primark dresses hang like forgotten corpses of her youth” it’s such a dramatic line, so powerful, I love it.

The poem ‘The Puppet Master’ I felt was a bit too long, and also the happy ending seemed jarring? The whole poem was so depressing that the happy ending seemed wrong somehow? But perhaps that’s just me.

Overall a really good first attempt at a poetry book; I can’t wait to read what Rachel writes next.

[Kristen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Disclaimer: I am not well read when it comes to poetry, and I have been a longtime fan of Rachel’s YouTube content, so I would have bought this book to support her no matter what.

That said, I did actually read it and I honestly thought it was quite good. I especially enjoyed Puppet Master, Heroes, Repeating Cycles, and Romb. As someone who is new to poetry, I find Rachel’s work to be very accessible and relatable. If you enjoy poetry or want to start giving it a try (and you’re ok with the trigger warnings) then I definitely recommend this book.

I hope Rachel will continue to publish her poetry, I think she has a lot of talent and potential.

[Stenedria · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been watching Rachel Oates's YouTube videos for a long time before getting the chance to read this collection and I must say she puts just as much of herself in this piece of work as she does in each of her videos. She did a great job. A common misconception with poetry is that it can be hard to read and understand, but I didn't get any of that with the author's writing. It didn't feel overwhelming at all. I also enjoyed how this was also a photography book. Many of the photos go along with the poem that precedes them, so it offers another lens to experience the poem. You can tell the author took great care and detail into this collection, and I recommend it.

[Karalee Shotola · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reflections on Healing is Rachel Oates' first poetry collection, with 17 poems alongside photographs she took. The poems cover Rachel's journey towards healing from trauma and her experiences. The poems are beautifully written and have deeper meanings. The poems are worth re-reading to understand the full message behind them. My favorite poems in the collection are Puppet Master and Romb, and I enjoyed the formatting of Repeating Cycles. I also thought Rachel's photos were a wonderful addition to the poetry collection. I highly recommend reading Rachel's poetry collection.

[Angelina]

Very interesting with some delightful creative bits! I was a bit bummed by how short it was and was left with a certain craving. I did not like all of the poems, but the longer ones such as ‘Puppet Master’ I found much value in; just wish there were more of those in here.. One thing that annoyed me is that a big portion of the book is explaining things and I really dislike when an author/poet cannot recognise the readers intelligence and instead of focusing on the works they work on a cheat guide.

Personally, I found it alright but honest!

[Charly Ella · Rating 4 out of 5]

A few years ago, rachel helped cultivate my love for creative writing so much so that I am now pursuing it in uni. It’s been a bit since I’ve seen her content, but when I head that she self published, I knew I owed my time and attention to the women who taught me to love poetry. This collection absolutely did not disappoint. It feels timeless and well constructed, emotional and fair. I highly recommend giving it a read.

[Savana Dennis · Rating 3 out of 5]

The whole book is a piece of art. I love the process explanation about the cover art and photography. The attention to detail is apparent and it is obvious that this was a passion project for Rachel. It is a very small, heartfelt collection. The poems are vulnerable and explore heavy topics. Some leaned on too literal for me but none lacked emotion. I look forward to seeing how she grows as a writer going forward.

[Jacqueline Gordon · Rating 3 out of 5]

As with many here, I've been a fan of Rachel Oates' YouTube channel for quite some time, and it's lovely to see her flex her creativity in this collection.While the imagery gets cliched at points, the poems in this book have a deep feeling of vulnerability and sincerity to them, which I love. Southgate was the standout for me. Rachel's photography is also fantastic.

[Dr. Madeline · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like many others, I originally found Rachel on YouTube and discovered her poetry through her channel. I really appreciated the vulnerability that she presented here, and I was impressed with her ability to put words to such complex concepts.

My personal favorites:
-Sometimes
-Amethyst
-Broken Girls
-Romb (my most favorite)

[caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

rachel oates writes so beautifully and precisely. this is deeply personal, and publishing pieces wthat are so close to the heart is scary. it makes me feel less scared to and feel more inclined to someday publish my own poetry collection. i love her videos too, especially her poetry ones.


i can’t wait for her next collection she’s working on rn. 💕

[Briar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Damn. Rachel mostly writes about her pain through the poetry of this book. Almost all are dark about the struggles she went through. The last poem alludes to some hope. Beautifully done. Keep writing.

[Maggie Chatterton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reflections on Healing by Rachel Oates is a collection of poetry that covers topics ranging from abuse and self-harm to hope and healing. The collection contains a number of amazing photography that complements the poetry.

[Lina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really good poems that capture the writer's feelings really well.

I think the poem and photo combinations are really well done. (Rachel, I'd totally buy a photography book of yours.)

[Chrissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stunning mix of photos & poems that provide images that continually shift away from bleakness into fire & hope.

[Hasiba · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love the videos where you criticize poetry, and this was an amazing book big up Rachel!!

[Nathan Perrin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I've been a fan of Rachel Oates and her Youtube channel for a long time. The poetry book lived up to my expectations. Great, intelligent work by a sensitive spirit. Looking forward to more!

[Mary · Rating 5 out of 5]

<3