Hey friends,
I was contacted recently and asked to review a poetry book called "The Alchemy of Love" by a wonderful poet named Sophie Foulcher.
Below is my honest review. You can find The Alchemy of Love
Overall opinion: The poetry book by Sophie Foucher is a beautiful insight into loving and being loved. As a person who has denied herself love on multiple occasions in the past, this is hauntingly striking. It starts off strong, with one of my favourite poems in the whole book, ALCHEMIE, which uses crystals and magic to embody the alchemy of love.
Another favourite of mine is LIGHTS OUT, with the lines: Can you change the lifeless water of grief, Into the spring of your Love, I am thirsty for your sweet nectar, My eyes are already rolling in joy. Jumping out to me.
We then start to see the poems mellow out towards the middle, my least favourite of which would have to be SONG OF KRISHNA, which felt disjointed – I wasn’t quite sure what the point was, though I do love this line: He wears a red stone from the sky, It is the symbol of union with the heart of the universe.
However, following that is the poem THE TEMPLE UNDER THE BLUE SKY which I absolutely LOVED! I have rated it a solid 10/10 for flow and feel of the words. Open your arms to me, Let the plants, trees, animals, and all the stars, Sing together the perfect symphony, the verse of one song, Your temple has no walls, It is wild and free, Where We can run and love.
Another top for me, I WANT TO KNOW ALL ABOUT YOU. It is tender, intimate, vulnerable, everything that love is in every meaning of the word. This poem is beautifully articulated and the artwork is fantastic.
The artwork, in general, is beautiful, non-conformist, abstract art, which I, personally, adore, especially in relation to a poetry book such as this one.
Verdict: 7/10. There are a few poems that were hard to understand, felt incohesive with the flow of the book or somehow felt unrelated to their titles and accompanying artwork, but I did thoroughly enjoy the attack on my usually closed heart. I find that along my writing journey I am writing more and more from an emotional truth, and Sophie Foucher’s ALCHEMY OF LOVE is a wonderful addition to my expanding collection of prose and poetry. All the poems, as you would expect, centre around a general theme of love, but within that, comes joy, pain, heartbreak, sensitivity… the list could go on. Love can never be described as one feeling or another, and neither can this book of poems. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to read it along my own journey of self-discovery, and I 100% recommend it to those who are either on the same path or crave an honest and open account on the many faces of love.
You can find The Alchemy of Love on Amazon.