Hello my dear friends.
In this post, i will share my review about this poetry book called When No One Is Watching by Linathi Makanda. Its rare for me to read poem especially in a poetry book because i just find it hard to really like the recent poetry. So guys, if you have any recommendations please do tell me. At first, i was reading another book about love and j just want to take a break from that book and decided to switch into something easier to read as it is already midnight right now. The book is a poetry book. Like i said, i rarely read poetry but i will love to get hooked with one or few books. I read this book with that hope in mind. I really like their cover. From the cover alone, i can tell that this poetry book will mainly talking about woman and written from a woman’s point of view. I suppose the author are a woman, which i thought that i can relate more to the poet.

This poetry book separated with four section, which is :

• Love Rising
• Love Lost
• Internal Uprising
• Hope Rising

I will share one favorite poetry from each section.

Love Rising

The universe worked so hard to align our paths.
We fell right into its trap the first time.
Promise me you’ll stay.
I want to give you the kind of love that’ll make even the gods cry.

• Page 11
  I like this poetry because of the last sentence. My love is deep, its grand, its big, i crave for the love so grand and so beautiful that no love story can match. I generally enjoy the whole section of Love Rising because its full of beautiful love words.

Love Lost

I could starve myself
Make my skin smells like hers
Ooze the demeanor of a deity
But i am nothing but a commoner
Bearing riches in the form of love
My insides could never warm enough to keep you
My riches, not enough to feed you
But if you call, i will surrender
I will shade and trade my skin to keep you warm
Be my master
Take me in
Make a home out of me

• Page 27
  In this Love Lost section, the poetry started to became darker and sadder. Its hard to find something i can actually feel related because i am not someone that like tragic things and sadness and any kind of form. Still, i manage to love this one. My favorite sentence would be “But i am nothing but a commoner, bearing riches in the form of love”. I feel like its somewhat similar with me. If i really think about it, there’s nothing really special about me i am just a plain commoner but i believe that the love that i have inside of every fiber of my being is something that this world might not be able to handle. Still, this is a sad poet because i feel like this lady is so desperate of love, loving a man that doesnt know her worth. It reminds me of the japanese word i really like, adabana means fruitless flower.

Internal Uprising

A man telling you how his father died is not him entrusting you with his heart.
It is merely just another aphrodisiac.

• Page 47
  Lol, this is a really funny one. I remembered how much i cry when someone told me how his father died and how he became a bigger person in my eyes at the time. So, this is might be true. Still, opening up to your partner about whats deep inside your heart is a must to do in relationships so you both can build a better connection and communication.

Hope Rising

I applaud you.
The gods are looking at you in amazement.
Who would’ve thought your skin would still ooze love after the world has been so unkind to you?
I still see your smile radiating from places that should’ve died a long time ago.
Your words, still warm enough to see anyone through a rough winter.
You are love in human form.
This is beautiful because this is what a human should be like, full if warmth, love, kindness. I wish that i can be someone like this, love in a human form.

Conclusion

This is a fun poetry book but if we read it, there’re a lot of plain sentence that i cant feel the depth if it. People like their poetry differently and i like something confusing, intriguing, leave us with a lot of questions, let us make our own interpretations of it, which i think that i cant find in this book. Maybe this poetry book is just not for me. I also find a lot of idea that already widely known such as how she said that all hurricanes are named after women in page 62.

Read this book on Scribd: https://www.scribd.com/book/441502589