THOUGHT CATALOG Your Soul Is a River

At the risk of sounding like a small child instead of a fully fledged adult attempting to undertake adulting on the regular, all I have to say is: Nikita Gill is my favourite. And she's my favourite because even when her collections don't hit me straight away, as this one didn't, it takes only a handful of incredible poems for me to slip straight back down that rabbit hole.The poems within "Your Soul Is A River" are a real mixed bag of emotions and themes. They start off largely about the universe and human existence and are relatively philosophical which fails to have much impact for me, and swiftly move into grief, lose, love, self-worth and guilt. It's not uncommon for guilt or grief to feature in feminist poetry such as this, but Nikita Gill really hones in on what it truly feels like to carry guilt unnecessarily. She also doesn't shy away from the less frequently portrayed deserved grief - humans are expected to make some mistakes after all and her acknowledgement that even good people mess up was great. Quite often feminist poetry is empowering, as it should be, but points the finger at someone else; it's refreshing to see a number of poems which encourage people to see their faults, accept them, but also apologise for them. Ultimately there isn't always just one victim, and she captures this well.Gill also perfectly captures what it means to grieve for someone/something you've lost - even if it was bad for you. I loved how she conveyed that there is something to be gained from experiences, even negative or painful ones. I haven't seen this done before and I think there's actually a really big place for this in modern poetry which currently feels under-explored."Your Soul Is A River" does a number of things which other collections of the same nature do as well, but it also addresses a number of insightful ideas which those collections don't do so well. I like that Nikita Gill is a little different but, more importantly, that a number of her poems were deeply personal and impactful for me this time. Definitely worth a read.

This is the first book I have bought by this author and it won't be the last. I couldn't put it down. Every poem I had to read out loud exclaiming, this one is beautiful, oh this one is beautiful, oh listen to this.... The words and sentiments speak to me and I have already ordered another of her books. Beautiful, uplifting and inspiring.

Some beautiful pieces use of poetry in here, love the formatting and sectioning of the poetry to make them consistent and have each topic able to flow into another. However, it does make it feel repetitive after a while.

LOVED THIS BOOK!!!❤️❤️❤️ My friend loved her Present got one for myself too after I read my friends my heart!! Speaks to me so much!

I'm in my poetry phase and this book didn't disappoint.Beautiful poetry that I found touched the soul. (cheesy I know)