35889367‘Sweet Oblivion’ is Jasmin Loren’s debut poetry collection.

The poems within showcase a soul laid bare for all to see and demonstrate the struggles each and every one us faces at some point in our lives.

The poems within ‘Sweet Oblivion’ cover a variety of themes, from life and love to heartache and death, and if these poems show nothing else, they show how resilient we are as human beings.

Our souls can be crushed, our hope extinguished, but we will always find a way to not only survive, but to thrive and move forward, stronger than before.

Source Format Word Count Publisher Genre Publication Date
Smashwords ebook 3140 indie Poetry July 24th, 2017

Most of us know Jasmin aka Jazz of I Swoon Over Fictional Men… and as such you may be preparing yourself to read this review thinking I may be biased. Choice is yours, but as a disclaimer I would like to add, that while I generally am a decent person, I would not kiss anyone’s ass just for the sake of knowing them. I like to believe my Estonian nature of character does not allow me to be fake… xoxo is something I always cringe over, hearts and kisses emojis are something I use more freely as of late but I still find them to be way too liberal for my liking. Basically, I don’t hand out compliments for the sake of chit chat, I don’t gush over your reviews or books for the sake of being apart of the Fangirl Club- if I send you a heart emoji, virtual hugs, or compliment your work then you better believe I am being honest because praise? In my eyes you gotta earn it to receive it! My point is… am I biased? I can tell you, I’m not… just because I know Jazz through book blogging has not had an impact on this review. 

Aaaanyway, after this superlong purge of an introduction, let’s go back to the title in the spotlight- ‘Sweet Oblivion‘!

In the Introduction to the poetry collection ‘Sweet Oblivion‘, Jasmin says:

Sweet Oblivion, for me, is so much more than a book. It’s my soul laid bare for all to see. The poems within cover a variety of themes, from the joys of life to the heartache of death.

This is exactly what Jasmin has done… The poems are grouped into categories of ‘life’, ‘love’, ‘heartache’ and ‘death’, and I just realized that quite simply the collection goes through a life cycle much like humans do.

This collection of poetry holds within itself a beautiful example of crafty penmanship through which Jasmin demonstrates every possible human emotion. It is not delivered in a complicated verse. The verse is simple yet effective and there are lines upon lines to which most of us can relate to. Some lines are so powerful, that they took me back to certain moments in my own life.

For example, a poem called Hanami:

Cherry blossom petals drifted in the air

Pink and white raindrops in our hair

We sat beneath a tree drinking beer

Grinning and carefree, hearts filled with cheer.

Those carefree moments in our lives are so important and even though we tend to remember the hardships and horrors of our lives more vividly, these simple joyful moments written into poetry help us remember the simple pleasures of life. After reading Hanami, I was transported back to an early morning, 5AM I believe it was, some 10 years back. I was alone, my boot laces undone trailing behind me, the sun was rising, the morning dew filled the air with freshness and I swear that moment in time made my heart want to burst out of my chest. It was just the instance of this moment that made me want to sit on the highway and have it repeat in a loop for eternity. Have you ever had such moments? Let me know in the comments 🙂

The best way to ever get a message of any kind across, is to make sure the message holds a meaning that everyone with their logical mind can see truth to. We are human beings- we are simple yet complicated and all of our emotions are overlapping to some extent and because of this, Jasmin really has dug deep to put into words that we all see, hear and feel every day of our lives through her own experiences.

A poem called Blind resonated with me a whole lot. It is essentially about everyone us going about our lives and even if we say we care, we are often blind to the things and people we could offer aid to. It’s the harsh truth and reality and one we see in every day life. Here is a snippet:

And yet here

People amble by

Clad in coats

Wrapped in scarves

Hands rammed in pockets

They scurry along

Their heads down

Eyes open yet blind

This collection is not only about events and situations, and impact of life on a human being. Every one of those instances, good or bad, are wrapped in eloquent words which create their own vivid atmosphere in a moment in time.

My overall feeling and observation after finishing this collection and having read Jasmin’s thoughts in her reviews, comments, other published works is that the ability to feel with every piece of her being is what makes Jasmin a poet. Whether a good or bad experience, she takes them and turns them into something bigger, something unified, something universal. Whether a blessing or a curse, when a soul digests everything that life ever throws at it, it is of utmost importance what the person behind the soul decides to do with it. Jasmin doesn’t only express her joy and sadness, she sees the beauty in all that is, as is evident in one of my favorite poems from the collection- Miniature Universes:

They say that the eyes are the windows to the soul

But look closer, gaze deeper, don’t you see there’s more?

There’s oceans to be found amongst a simple blue

Sun-drenched hills and fields made of gold-flecked green

The earth, the root of all life, is that warm brown

Obsidian, unusual and piercing, is a start-studded night sky

And the dawn of a new day can be seen through eyes of amber

So, the eyes are not just windows to the soul

They are windows to new worlds, to entire universes

And when all is said and done, isn’t that something of a miracle?

That poem! It is everything I believe in- that we are all spectres of dust, one with everything that is cosmic and energy. All and everything wrapped into a few lines of beautiful simplicity that Jasmin has taken time to notice… how wonderful is that?

If you have just an hour of your time to spend in between all of the great novels of fantasy, thrillers or romance to spare, I do recommend you check ‘Sweet Oblivion‘ out. Immerse yourself in all that is life, love, heartbreak and death; the balanced life cycle of all that exists and all that makes us human, and as such- support the work of a poet.

‘Sweet Oblivion‘ on Goodreads | Smashwords

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