by Harmony Kent
This heartfelt collection provides company and compassion through the devastating journey of loss and shows us we do not travel this lonely road alone.
Even if we make it to our twilight years, the more we age, the more loss we must endure as part of the cycle of life. Many of these poems lament death, but they also relate to broken relationships, severed friendships, and the loss of youth. This book of grief poetry is as much about saying goodbye and working through loss as it is about death and love split asunder.
This heartfelt collection provides company and compassion through the devastating journey of loss and shows us we do not travel this lonely road alone. Within these pages we share shock, numbness and denial, catapult into anger, bargaining, depression, loneliness, and guilt, and—eventually—make the seismic shift into testing the possibility of a new normal and finding acceptance.
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Praise for Slices of Soul, Book 1 in the Soul Poetry Series:
"I found my answer in this wonderful treasure-trove and have already read it three times." Robert Fear
"I found in Slices of Soul something approaching aesthetic bliss, a sense of being connected in some way to other states - like tenderness, kindness, ecstasy - where art is the norm." Colm Herron
"A stunning collection of poems that I read in one sitting! Unable to simply put this down until I had read the last. I love the clarity of the short poems, such clear images created in so few words or phrases. Many of them touched my heart and I will be giving them a 2nd and 3rd read!" Audrina Lane
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Praise for Life & Soul, Book 2 in the Soul Poetry Series:
"...a wonderful and relatable look on the seasons of life and the heartbreak and happiness of love and family." Julie
"I would highly recommend this book to anyone who's looking for some good poetry that hits you right in the feels." Katie
"Powerful and Enlightening: I highly recommend this volume and eagerly look forward to her next collection." Writester
Customers find the poems in the collection moving and touching. They describe it as an insightful collection of poems relating to loss through death. The book is described as beautiful and enjoyable by all. AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
POWERFUL AND RELEVANT Sorrowful Soul is book three in a poetry series by author Harmony Kent. I’m usually not one to read poetry books, but I have read some from this author before and thought they were pretty interesting. I like how each book in this series revolves around a different topic. This book (as you can probably guess from the title) is about the many stages of grief. The book is divided up into the major stages of grief (Shock & Disbelief, Denial, Guilt, Anger & Bargaining, Depression, Loneliness & Reflection, Working Through, and Acceptance). Most every poem takes up a page or two and has a title giving you an idea of what it will be about. Anyone who has lost someone special and has gone through the grieving process in their own life will be able to relate to the poems in a deeper way than those who have not experienced deep grief. But even so, I think people can learn a lot and be able to understand and possibly even help others who are grieving. There are a lot of emotions when you lose someone in life and it’s very hard in the denial and anger phases especially. The poem about “just one more time” really hit me heavy in this book. It’s just really hard when someone you want to be there is not there and you’d give almost anything just have “one more” of anything with them. A word, a smile, a hug. As I said before, I’m not really one to read poetry books, but I like this author and will continue to check out her work. This would make a nice and thoughtful gift for anyone you know that is experiencing loss in their lives.
WE ALL FACE GRIEF AT ONE TIME OR ANOTHER Sorrowful Soul is the third collection of poems in Harmony Kent’s Soul Poetry series. The subject of this collection, grief, is something we will all face at one time or another. Each section takes readers through the stages of grief. Some are hard to read, but most readers can relate to the emotions associated with the loss of someone you love. I recommend all three books in this series.
I'M NOT CRYING, YOU'RE CRYING (OK, IT'S ME) Sorrowful Soul by Harmony Kent explores the stages of grief in a heartbreaking and relatable collection of truly stunning poetry. Poetry is a difficult medium, but Kent’s words are piercing and eloquent. Somehow, reading through each stage, I could feel the raw sensations of the devastation of losing someone you love. The poem Night Train asked why there are no words for a loss of a child, or sibling many others in our lives that mean everything in our world. There’s so much loss in our lives and there are so few terms to describe the pain, or how to explain the importance of another person who is no longer by your side. This collection had me in tears repeatedly. Tears of sadness, but also tears from the realization that we are all united in our grief. Harmony Kent uses her powerful words time and again to illustrate those festered emotions we have the most difficulty in understanding. To Have Lived and Loved is the first of the section titled ‘Working Through’ and it spoke to me in a way because of its simplicity and intention. There are so many poems in this collection I needed to turn back to and really let it wash over me. Triggers, Marking Time, and Choices were poems I needed to read out loud multiple times because of their rhythm and perfectly chosen words. I will read more Harmony Kent after this collection and I will keep this to share with loved ones who have lost someone because Sorrowful Soul is poetic therapy.
POETRY TO TOUCH THE SOUL I couldn’t wait for this book to come out in paperback, and I wasn’t disappointed. I’m familiar with this author’s multi-genre talent in writing, and I especially enjoy her heartfelt poetry. The book is divided into what is said – the seven stages of grief. As the author points out, and I can attest to, these stages are by no means the law and order of grief and can and will be felt at various times after a loss, and in no specific order – Shock and Disbelief; Denial; Guilt; Anger and Bargaining; Depression, Loneliness and Reflection; Working Through; and Acceptance. It’s difficult to write this type of heartfelt poetry if one hasn’t loved and lost someone or something, just as a reader won’t take in the breadth of it unless they too have lived loss themselves. But one doesn’t have to have lost someone to take in these evocative poems and feel both the love and the pain of loving and losing to stir up emotions and reiterate how precious life is. These stories in poetry speak of painful losses – death, youth and health.This is a beautiful book that one can pick up at anytime and open up a page to. A handy reference to revisit time and time again. This would be a lovely gift for someone who is grieving or for friends and relatives to offer some insight into the grieving process and the loneliness that ensues. All these poems hit me hard, in fact, each and every poem spoke to me, especially, Borrowed Time from Part 1 – Shock and Disbelief: "From wedding bells To funeral dirge From dancing and fun To tears and disbelief None could have known How soon you’d be gone We miss your smile And loud, easy laughter Your compassion And unassuming friendship From May to December You withered away And by the new year We burned your bones Scattered your pale ashes To the fickle wind And looking back I still can’t believe Nor properly grieve From wedding bells To funeral dirge Where to now?" Each and every poem resonated me as I endure my own great loss, and my compassion was lent to the author in her own stories of her losses. It’s difficult to pick out a favorite in this heartfelt read, but a few more that gave me pause, some favored quotes from: No Words – “…I’ve died a hundred times since you left my life bereft” The Worst Kind of Thief – “…The sparkle in your eyes ignited me whole” Not Since – “…Didn’t sleep last night Nor the night before, Not since they carried you, Out the door” Down Deep – “… And joy on the beach, All I feel now is the scratch of the sand, In this barren, strange, unknown land, You were my navigator, my pilot, My life’s one true love, And, oh my darling, I miss you so much” Triggers – “a discarded shoe, an odd sock, or a simple visit to the shop, who ever knew the total and utter shock such simple things could induce?” At the end of the book, Kent also leaves some important resource links for people who are in need of seeking help with mental anguish. I highly recommend this beautiful book full of verses of the human condition and emotion.
