POETRY INSPIRED BY OLIVER FANTASY & FRIENDSHIP

A book of confessional love poems inspired by a friend of the author’s.

Day-Joel dedicates this book to Oliver, a friend for whom she has secret romantic feelings. Whether or not her love is requited is unclear, but she offers many poems about her fantasies involving him. “Meeting you has stirred me,” she admits at the outset. In “The Calling,” she pledges to lead him “to the depths of my soul” while simultaneously honoring his light and embracing his darkness. As the friends spend more time together in the poems, Day-Joel longs to share memories with this man and reveals that she is starting to hear his voice in her head when they are apart. They talk about the universe and music. The author consults an astrologer to try to better understand her connection with this fellow “free spirit” with whom she shares a “relaxed synchronicity.” She wades into erotica as X-rated thoughts consume her and she imagines intimacy with Oliver. The two “gently touch into a tease” on a camping trip but ultimately keep things platonic. Unfortunately, the sentiments in the poems too rarely transcend the bland and unoriginal. “The more I get to know you the more I like you,” she writes. Clichéd imagery abounds; the author says that looking into Oliver’s eyes “is entering the depths of a deep ocean” and that his gaze is “like a lightning bolt out of nowhere.” The poems also lean heavily on alliteration that at times can be distracting, as in a description of the couple “discussing symptoms, solutions and society / With our spreadsheets, shared numbers and stationery.” Day-Joel shows that she’s capable of more in poems like “Tea Break,” in which she sets an evocative scene: “Morning is coffee, tea and a pinch of frivolity / We laugh at absurdities, share humour and stories.” Writing from the heat of desire is Day-Joel’s strong suit, and she excels when she gets more visceral, as in “Fantasy,” in which she dons a “suspender belt tight like the grip of your hand around my waist.”

A lusty collection of love poems by an enamored poet.