Customer Reviews

The Subtle Art of Breathing

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Asha Bandele is an honest poet and it must have taken a great amount of courage and strength for her to write `The Subtle Art of Breathing.'
This book of poetry is Bandele's way of letting the world into hers, where things like a young lady being raped was "passed off as passion." It is a relatively dark and scarred world of nostalgia, written as a means of hope and inspiration to women who may have faced some of the same dark obstacles. This book is for the mature audience.
Evoking powerful imagery and strong word choice arrayed with metaphors and various structural patterns, this book will make you think, may bring truthful sorrow, may enrage you, may cause you to pray or make you turn away. To put it lightly, Bandele's book of poetry will move you.
I like the way Bandele puts words together and the vivid message they convey, such as the line found in the poem everybody need a cool breeze sometime: who can move/ easy/like the sun stretching itself/ awake. Also the line in long day's journey into night: the remix-

I am a body abandoned, sent into the world to face whatever humiliation, alone, without the presence of my soul, which I have successfully sifted out, locked up, buried deep.

My favorite pieces in the book include some mornings she dances, long day's journey into night: the remix and the subtle art of breathing.
-Bryan I. White

Not one to pick up a poetry book on a whim, I decided to give this book a chance after buying and reading Asha Bandele's 'A Prisoner's Wife'. That book was amazing and so was this! It's funny because I also received a recommendation on this book from some friends, as well as Amazon Recommends. So I guess it was destiny for me to read the heartwrenching words of Asha Bandele.

The poetry in The Subtle Art of Breathing, while in your face, unapologetic and raw, manages to pull the reader in and keeps ahold of you until the very end. I read the entire book in one sitting, which isn't hard to do, but I look forward to slowing down a bit and really taking it all in the next time I read it. For that I can't wait.

I've also picked up a couple more titles from the publisher, Moore Black Press. So if you like Asha Bandele, or just really powerful, emotional writing, check out some other titles as well.

This was just what my poetry palate was craving! I am a longtime Asha Bandele follower. The Absence in the Palms of My Hand was one of the best poetry collections I read in 1997... and The Subtle Art of Breathing picked up right where the other left off. Asha's poetry is raw and honest with out apology. She takes you to where you need to be (whether you want to go or not) and I applaud her courage.
I reccomend this book from the heart to all those ready to curl up with the truth and search within themselves.

In the Subtle Art of Breathing, I found someone who could speak truth to power, say what I know but cannot always find the words to say. Thank you Asha for being the voice of those of us who know, know what it is to love those who struggle, are locked behind bars, who hold the world's best chance but are marginalized. When I read your works, I find myself breathing again, and the courage to fight, speak out, inform, another day. Thank you more than words can say for your continued courage, Asha.