Mentor Texts discussion

For my final book review, I decided to read "Pillow Thoughts" by Courtney Peppernell. The book was divided into sections (chapters) based on "If..." statements. Similarly to Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur, Pillow Thoughts was organized based on the disparity between emotions. For example, the first section named, "If you are dreaming of someone" (1), allows the readers to visualize what the chapter is going to be focusing on. I learned that this method of organization for a poetry collection is quite impactful as it sets the scene for the chapter nicely. In addition, the repetition of "If..." statements is soothing for the audience. Another thing I learned involved the structure of poems themselves. Having poems in the structure of a paragraph can resemble complete thoughts or memories, as well as diversify the structure of poems throughout the collection. One particular poem that truly spoke volumes to me was in the shape of a paragraph: "I will love you even if you marry someone else and in the coldest days of the year you spend your nights wishing you had married me after all, because no one knows how to ignite the fire in your soul quite like I do" (42). Although I tend to steer clear from styling my poems in the paragraph form, I do think it is essential to have poems structured like so when composing a compilation of stories. The last thing I learned from reading Pillow Thoughts concerned the meaning of a poem. Poems that evoke a journal-like effect can produce a sentimental and relatable feeling to the readers. When composing emotionally raw pieces that may not be extensive in the metaphorical sense, it can be good to form the poem in a journal-like manner to bring in a sense of pure human emotion. Whether it be out of anger, sadness, happiness, guilt, or confusion, a poem can benefit from the journal aspect as it can demonstrate the emotions of the character on a particular day: "Lately I have been making too many excuses" (91). Although there were a variety of things I learned from this book, these were the three most important ones that I believe will help me improve my writing.