I could feel all of the beauty and all of the pain that she described, and was reminded of many events in my own past.

I personally have struggled with self-love and getting caught up in relationships, and I thought she gave a very accurate view of what that is like. That being said, I absolutely loved the journey through her story. I wish instead of stating those things outright readers were left to interpret them a little more freely, and just be in the moments. I also kept thinking of that one Friend’s episode where Chandler gets tricked into seeing the angry one-woman play, where every scene starts out with the woman yelling “CHAPTER (insert number, and title).” Hancock labels certain poems with the designations such as “word of advice #x” or “scene:” or “things that remind me of you #x” and it really broke the flow for me.

I’m sure there was some reasoning behind it, but it was one that I could not discern, and therefore just distracted me from the writing. Then I could feel the style had a purpose, but alas, I was disappointed. I was hoping at least that in the last poem, or line, there would finally be a capital “I” to mark the author’s journey to finally loving herself, or something to that effect. First, I did not enjoy the lack of capitalization of any word (especially “i”) throughout the entire book. But, for all of the beautiful parts, there were those that bothered me. It must be one of the most highlighted works in my library. There were so many gorgeous, quotable passages in this book. 'the moment / you begin to / love yourself / is an act of war / against those who try to chain you to a scale, against those who try to / brand you with a label, / against hose who try to tell you / it is better to do the opposite.' When she is not singing or writing, Catarine can be found curled up with a good fantasy novel, wandering the aisles of the local bookstore, or adding a weird décor item she found at the Goodwill to her already too-cluttered apartment.

She is the author of four poetry collections: 'shades of lovers' (2020), 'sometimes i fall asleep thinking about you' (2021), and 'i gave myself the world' (January 2023), all published with Central Avenue Publishing, and 'sprout: selected poems,' self-published in 2022. Over the next 9 years, her platform has grown to an audience of over 300,000. Having been a bookworm and writer all her life, her passion for poetry began at the age of 13, and shortly afterward, she began sharing her writing online. Aside from music, poetry is her other great love. She holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Kentucky and is currently earning her Master of Music in Voice degree at Indiana University. Catarine Hancock is a 23-year-old poet and opera singer from Lexington, Kentucky.

Shades of lovers book catarine hancock