To hold tight each feeling
I am blessed to have felt
I write not to be known
but to know myself
– Lang leav
We’re less than two months away from 2021 and it seems like only yesterday that I was repeating this line in another one of my articles with the words six months away. I can now feel the uncertainty of meeting my reading goals growing every day. But courtesy of the hustle culture, I tend to measure my productivity through the number of items I tick in my to-do list. Henceforth, I laced up and decided to shift to poetry books and short classics. My instincts drove me to finish Milk and Honey one day after midnight. And before I knew, Lang Leav’s cute font had grabbed my eye on Instagram. The following is the first poem from September Love, I was lucky enough to read.
Lang Leav’s tenth book September Love captures the highs and lows of every season, unlike its title. During a time, when on some days getting out of bed is the only thing most of us are able to do, Lang Leav strikes a chord within our hearts once again. Her words are like a tender caress on a cold winter bed. The international bestselling author completed this collection of poetry and prose during the pandemic days. She writes about themes which span a million complex emotions inside our heads. Self-love, self-empowerment, heartbreaks, changing perceptions and many more. She also delivers impressive retorts to the various criticisms subjected to her writing. One may find some themes reverberate within other poetry books as well. But, Lang Leav has a very soothing vibe in her poetry which makes you want to go slow and steady with every word she writes. Although I finished it in one sitting I know I’ll go back to her words once again, when the going gets tough. Some of my favourite pieces were Ten Things, Motherhood, My Version of Love and Self-Preservation.
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Going through a rough season of autumn, I found refuge within modern poetry books such as September Love. Most people would just advise me to pick up a non-fiction book instead. But it’s not like we don’t know what we are supposed to do when life brings us down. Most of us know how healing works and how to tackle our problems. We’re just either too lazy or feel like lingering within the comfortable bounds of denial a bit longer. This is where poetry steps in, just before you pick up a non-fiction book and decide to put your life back together. Poetry braces you for the difficulties which still await you and also assures you that despite it all, you’ll survive, you’ll come through. It gives you the courage to prepare for your impending battles but allows you to fall apart the night before. This is what reading September Love felt like — the calm and chaos altogether. And this is exactly what we need right now to prepare ourselves for 2021. Because even though the next year will surely be a new beginning, we all know that the expectant normalcy may not be restored.
Read more about Lang Leav here.
