Book review: The secrets i keep

The secrets i keep, by Alex Casso

Description: (from goodreads)

The Secrets I Keep is a poetry collection about mental illness, as well as child abuse and the lingering effects it has. Through it, Alex Casso bares their soul and proves that, despite everything, they are a force to be reckoned with.

I had been following this person on twitter for maybe over a month when they tweeted about their poetry collection being available on amazon. Guess what I do when a really nice person I appreciate on social media talks about their book? Especially when it’s quite cheap? Yes, I buy the book!

I knew I wasn’t in for a long read, this poetry collection contains 24 poems. I might have taken me around fifteen minute to read.

The collection deals with the trauma Alex Casso has to live with, but also their relation to words, poetry, survival, hope.
The themes addressed here are very difficult to read about, mostly the lasting effect of the trauma from child abuse.
It was moving beyond anything I can articulate, because you know this is something someone experienced and is dealing with at the same moment you are reading this. One minute of reading and I already had a lump in my throat, wanting to offer comfort to the author and at the same time being highly awed by their courage to offer their words and their experience in this way.

While being a raw poetry collection, hope still transpires through some peoms. This is a reading experience from which you do not leave the same as when you started reading, a collection where most poems punch you in the heart, with powerful words and images. Heartbreaking and empowering are words that instantly came to mind when I finished reading.

you tried to claim my fire
saying my accomplishments were yours
no, mother.
my accomplishments were in spite of you
trying to bring me down.

– i will rise from the flames

I can only give this collection 5/5 and wish all the best to Alex Casso, hoping we’ll get to read more poetry collection from them in the future.