Rating: 2/5
It was my sister who first recommended Morgan Harper Nichols to me. She's been following her instagram for a while and thought I might like the combination of hopeful poetry and neutral artwork. @morganharpernichols has a beautiful feed and I can't deny I always pause to take in her posts when I spot them.
Storyteller is a collection of poem letters, a phrase Nichols coined to explain her poetic style, which is reminiscent of open letters. Each poem is dedicated to somebody, whether that's her friends, a girl on a plane, or a man on his drive back from work. What first struck me about Nichols collection is her unusual rhyme schemes. The rhyming is very obvious, often appearing at the end of lines. In itself this isn't an unusual feature of poetry, but a lot of modern poetry works on internal rhyming, often using half rhymes or word play - much the same as rap does. Because Storyteller sticks to a more conventional rhyming patter, it felt like a more traditional form of poetry.
Similarly, the imagery in Storyteller fits with the more traditional poetic style which often takes advantage of figurative language rather than the blunt approach of modern poetry. There's more to take apart in Nichols poetry than in many other collections (I'm thinking of Rupi Kaur or R.H. Sin), and reminded me of the Romantics. The natural imagery often alluded to something other than the nature itself, with beautiful image holding a more serious message within. That being said, Storyteller remains an easy gateway into poetry.
As with any poetry collection, it was difficult to read at speed. The poems were short, which meant I was inclined to read them one after the other, but this sometimes meant they blurred into each other. The repetitive imagery across the poems added to this effect; it was hard to recognise where one poem ended and the next began. As empowering as a comparison between human and nature can be, the image of a mountain comes up in almost every other poem, diminishing the effect it would otherwise have.
At its heart, though, Storyteller is about human connection, and that makes it a heart-warming collection. My advice, as with any poetry collection, is don't rush it. You need to take your time with poetry, it has such a different feeling when you let yourself have time to take it in and appreciate it. Nichols poem letters offer the opportunity to connect to strangers, which is often the most beautiful consequence of poetry.
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