[Mrs. Y Reviews] Dead Dogs Don't Bark by Tolu' A. Akinyemi

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Poems are like kisses; no two people kiss the same way, and no two poems are the same. Thus, no two people can write poems like each other. Every verse has it’s own unique and specific message to the moment it is conveying. That’s why when I was asked to review a poetry collection, I hesitated a bit. Thankfully, my friends, I came around! Want to know more? Get your banana bread, don’t be a fake vegetarian and let’s stay together for a review of “Dead Dogs Don’t Bark: A Collection of Poetic Wisdom for the Discerning” by Tolu A. Akinyemi. 

Opinion

Tolu contacted me via my blog and asked me to review his Poetry Collection. I picked this up on Kindle Unlimited, which is fantastic. However, it’s on sale via Amazon for $3.99 on Amazon.com. I’m glad he contacted me about this poetry collection, but as I mentioned, I hesitated a bit.

Why? As I said, poems are different for everyone who writes one. I love poetry. I often go to Twitch on Sunday nights for Poetic Justin’s live poetry slam, where the community is positive, and everyone can get their poems on. Poems are lovely, and I take them somewhat seriously.

But, Tolu asked me to review his book, and who am I to turn someone down? I’m not going to do that. So I picked it up and here comes my first impressions of his book for the review.

Initially, the poems surprised me. I’m used to spirituality in a poem, and I’m not used to what exactly I was reading. But, after a few verses, I got into the rhythm of the life of the book. This book covers a lot of various topics, from Christianity to vegetarians, politics, anti-bullying and overall almost every poem has a positive message about something. Even the banana bread poem, which is one of my favorites, has some impressive depth to it.

Critiques time and this is rather difficult. I have no real critiques for my scoring system because poems do not fall under the same conversions. Even if I was going to go into the grammar, or spelling or margins,  I saw nothing that deserved a critique. The poems are centered, the footnotes are on the bottom and in italics, and the words are comfortable. There isn’t a way to go into grammar and lines when we are looking at poems. So for once my friends, I’m at a loss on my standard scoring system.

That said, I want to put out a non-scoring caution about the book. If you are not into Christian poetry, this may not be the poetry collection to pick up. I don’t personally mind it, but I do know I have readers from all walks of life and faiths, so I thought I would mention it here in the critique section. This is a book that is very in tune with the poet, and it’s just as coded to his DNA as his blood is.

Lastly, let’s go into what I truly enjoyed about the poems. I felt these were very positive poems designed to uplift a spirit or three. I think they are fun for the most part. I loved the prose, I loved the way the rhythm of the words came together, and I’m a fan of the imagery.

Now, is this my end all and be all favorite set of poems? No. I can’t say that it is, because by nature I have listened to so many different takes on verses to pick a favorite. But I can say I did indeed enjoy this set.

Score

How do you score a book that doesn’t fall into any usual convention for a book that I score? It’s tough.

In this case, what I’m going to do because I have no scoring system that truly applies to a book of poetry, I shall go with my heart for once. I have no math behind this to base my score, but I will use the star system instead. I need to consider what I should use for future poetry collections when it comes to the logical data I like to collect.

So, “Dead Dogs Don’t Bark” gets a 4-star review on Amazon and Goodreads. I liked many aspects of it, but some parts were not as enjoyable to me and that’s why I gave it 4-stars.

Until next time my friends, have a wonderful rest of your day!

Mrs. Y